Kajita is the co-recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering that neutrinos from the atmosphere switch between two identities as they make their way to Earth.

His findings helped physicists explain why two-thirds of neutrinos go missing during experimental calculations. It also led to the far-reaching conclusion that neutrinos, which for a long time were considered massless, must have some mass, however small.

(Photo: University of Tokyo)