Masato Sagawa

Masato Sagawa (佐川眞人; born August 3, 1943, in Tokushima, Japan) is a Japanese scientist and entrepreneur, and the inventor of the sintered permanent neodymium magnet (NdFeB). Sagawa was awarded the Japan Prize and IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies for his efforts.

Masato Sagawa 佐川眞人
Born	(1943-08-03) 3 August 1943 (age 81) Tokushima, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Citizenship	Japan
Alma mater	Kobe University (B.A.) (M.S.) Tohoku University (Doctor Eng.)
Spouse	Hisako Sagawa 久子
Awards	Asahi Prize (1990) Japan Prize (2012) Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2022)
Scientific career
Fields	Metallurgy, Magnetic Materials, Sustainable energy

Career

Sagawa initially conceived and developed the sintered NdFeB when he was with Fujitsu Laboratories, where he worked from 1972 to 1982. Lacking his supervisor's support for the new magnetic compound, Sagawa resigned in 1981, joining Sumitomo Special Metals. Shortly after joining Sumitomo he had developed the NdFeB magnet. Sagawa presented the new discovery of NdFeB magnet during the Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in November 1983 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[1][2] During this same time period, John Croat from General Motors (GM) had independently discovered the same Nd₂Fe₁₄B compound.^[3]

In 1988, Sagawa founded Intermetallics, a research and development company devoted to the development of neodymium magnets.^[4][5][6] Sagawa founded NDFEB Corporation in 2012, where he is currently president.

Sagawa has worked on improving the NdFeB magnetic materials' magnetic properties, with over 60 patents for his work related to NdFeB.The 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering was awarded to him for the discovery, development and global commercialisation of the neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnet.^[7]  

Dr. Sagawa demonstrates how 1 gram of NdFeB magnet disc can firmly hold ~1900 grams of water bottle.

Major awards and honors

• 1986 - James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials
• 1990 - Asahi Prize
• 2012 - Japan Prize^[8][5]
• 2016 - Nagamori Award^[9]
• 2018 - NIMS Award 2018^[9]
• 2019 - Yildirim International Entrepreneurship Award from FLOGEN Star Outreach^[10]
• 2022 - IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies^[11]
• 2022 - Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering^[12]
• 2023 - Honda Prize^[13]
• 2023 - IUPAP Magnetism Award and Néel Medal [de], Germany
• 2024 - European Inventor Award