In Memoriam: Yoshimi Goda

The authors are sad to inform their colleagues in the coastal engineering community of the sudden demise of their research leader, the renowned Professor Yoshimi Goda. He passed away on January 19, 2012, at the age of 76 years. The authors are still struggling to accept this event.

Just one day before his death, upon receiving word of his critical condition, one of the authors went to visit Professor Goda. Although he was not well at that time, he recognized his visitor and asked whether the Coastal Development Institute of Technology made the necessary contributions to the recovery of Japanese ports from the serious damage they sustained during the huge tsunami on March 11, 2011. When leaving after an hour of conversation, the visitor grasped the hands of Professor Goda, who responded with a powerful grasp. The visitor firmly believed that Professor Goda would live longer, but the next day was informed about the news of his passing, and the authors felt incredibly sad.

Professor Goda’s research abilities were much appreciated and recognized from his early years. His research activities in coastal engineering started during his employment at the Port and Harbor Research Institute (PHRI), Ministry of Transport of Japan, just after his graduation from Tokyo University in 1957. He often told us that his early research papers were frequently completely revised by his boss, Dr. Tsuruta, but the revisions became very rare after he returned from two years of study abroad. He was sent to the United States in 1961 by a Japanese government program to take classes and conduct research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Professor Arthur T. Ippen. His research at MIT was on the theoretical analysis of harbor resonance. After he returned, he became the chief of the Wave Laboratory in 1967 and supervised several young researchers at PHRI. He was promoted to the post of director of the Marine Hydrodynamic Division in 1978 and transferred to the Hydraulic Engineering Division in 1980. Subsequent promotions saw him becoming the deputy director general in 1984 and later the director general of PHRI in 1986. He left the PHRI in 1988 to accept a professorship at Yokohama National University. He retired from the university with the title of Professor Emeritus in 2000 and simultaneously was offered the job of an adviser at the consulting company, Ecoh.

Professor Goda often advised young researchers as follows: Research should not be conducted in problems that are 90% completed merely to advance the completion to 95%. Rather, problems should be tackled with 0% completion and advance them to a stage of 60 or 70% development. Even if a solution to a problem cannot presently be found, with persistence, a solution to the problem can be hit upon in the future. This advice meant that young researchers should aim to be pioneers and not simply second-tier participants in their chosen research field. The authors think Professor Goda followed his own advice.

Professor Goda energetically carried out new research work at the forefront of coastal engineering to apply the properties of random sea waves to the practical design of coastal and harbor facilities. Consequently, he attained high-quality research results, which are very popular; for example, Professor Goda’s formula for wave pressure, his analysis of random wave transformation, and his study on the statistical properties of random seas. These results were introduced into the technical standards for the design of port and harbor facilities in Japan. His research was extremely fruitful and greatly contributed to the development of coastal engineering in Japan as well as in the rest of the world. He also published books on coastal engineering for practitioners, in both Japanese and English. His motto in research was that it should be useful for practitioners.

Professor Goda received several awards from the Japanese Society of Civil Engineering for his outstanding research results and his book publications, and also from the Japanese government for his enormous contribution to the progress of Japanese ports. He also received the prestigious International Coastal Engineering Award from the ASCE. The authors had frequently suggested to Professor Goda that he should take some rest for a while from his work because he worked much more than the average person. Instead, he surprised the authors with the publication of a new book (in Japanese), titled Coastal Engineering—Its Birth and Development, in January 2012. Less than one month after publication, Professor Goda passed away, leaving the book for the coastal engineering community. His wife said to the authors that the operation of a personal computer had caused him to forget his physical fatigue. The authors will continue their research activities in the future according to the late Professor Goda’s desires, which they will cherish along with his memory.