Hideki Yukawa

Yukawa, Hideki (1907–81), Japanese physicist who postulated the meson as the agent bonding the atomic nucleus. In fact, the mu-meson (now called muon), discovered shortly afterward (in 1936) by Carl D. Anderson, does not fulfill this role, and Yukawa had to wait until Cecil F. Powell discovered the pi-meson (now called pion) in 1947 for vindication of his theory. He received the 1949 Nobel Prize in physics.

See also: Meson.