Makoto Nagao

Makoto Nagao
Makoto Nagao
Born(1936-10-04)October 4, 1936
Mie Prefecture, Japan
DiedMay 23, 2021(2021-05-23) (aged 84)
Kyoto, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Alma materKyoto University
Known forMachine translation, Natural language processing, Digital libraries
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science

Makoto Nagao (October 4, 1936 – May 23, 2021) was a Japanese computer scientist. He worked in machine translation, natural language processing (NLP), and digital libraries.

Early life and education

Nagao was born in Mie Prefecture, Japan. He studied at Kyoto University.[1]

Career

Nagao worked on machine translation, which helps computers change text from one language to another. He also worked on NLP, which helps computers understand human language. He made tools like KNP and Juman for the Japanese language.[2] Nagao also worked on image processing and pattern recognition.

Nagao was the 23rd president of Kyoto University from 1997 to 2003.[3] He was the director of the National Diet Library from 2007 to 2012.[4]

Awards

Nagao received many awards, including:

  • IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award[5]
  • ACL Lifetime Achievement Award[6]
  • Japan Prize[7]

Influence

Nagao introduced the idea of example-based machine translation (EBMT), which became an important method in translation research.[8] His work on EBMT is often discussed in later studies of translation systems.[9]

He also helped develop the Japanese language tools Juman and KNP, which are still used in natural language processing research.[10][11][12]

During his time as Director of the National Diet Library, he supported projects in digital libraries and information technology.[4][13][14]

References

  1. ↑ 研究統括 長尾 真氏の略歴等 (in Japanese). Japan Science and Technology Agency. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  2. ↑ Sadao Kurohashi and Makoto Nagao. 1994. KN Parser : Japanese Dependency/Case Structure Analyzer. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Sharable Natural Language Resources.
  3. ↑ "Presidents of Kyoto University". Kyoto University. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  4. 1 2 "Dr. Makoto Nagao appointed new Librarian of the National Diet Library". National Diet Library. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  5. ↑ "IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award Recipients" (PDF). IEEE. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 24, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  6. ↑ "the Association for Computational Linguistics – 2003 ACL Lifetime Achievement Award". Association for Computational Linguistics. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  7. ↑ "2005(21st) JAPAN PRIZE LAUREATES". The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  8. ↑ Nagao, Makoto (2003) [1984]. Nirenburg, Sergei; Somers, Harold L.; Wilks, Yorick A. (eds.). A Framework of a Mechanical Translation between Japanese and English by Analogy Principle. The MIT Press. doi:10.7551/mitpress/5779.003.0038. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
  9. ↑ Somers, Harold (1999). "Review Article: Example-based Machine Translation". Machine Translation. 14 (2): 113–157. doi:10.1023/A:1008109312730. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
  10. ↑ Kurohashi, Sadao; Nagao, Makoto (1994). KN Parser : Japanese Dependency/Case Structure Analyzer. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
  11. ↑ "JUMAN". Kyoto University NLP Lab. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
  12. ↑ "KNP". Kyoto University NLP Lab. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
  13. ↑ Nakayama, Masaki (2022). "Development of Digital Library Service at the National Diet Library". Digital Archive Journal (in Japanese). 6 (s1): s36 – s39. doi:10.24506/jsda.6.s1_s36. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
  14. ↑ Oba, Toshiyasu (2022). "Overview of the Period of the National Diet Library Director". Digital Archive Journal (in Japanese). 6 (s1): s31 – s32. doi:10.24506/jsda.6.s1_s31. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
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