The Department of Earth and Space Science, Graduate School of Science of Osaka University, is a unique department established in 1995, aimed at developing a new horizon in the research and education of earth and space science from a physics-based perspective. The principal goals of our department’s research activities are to understand the extreme state of matter in space, including even life, and to decipher the many diverse phenomena which occur in space, the planets and the Earth.
The Department of Earth and Space Science consists of four major research areas: (1) Astrophysics and Planetary Science, (2) Earth and Planetary Material Sciences, (3) Extreme Material Science, and (4) Life Science. Related disciplines also covered are theoretical astrophysics, X-ray astrophysics, infrared astronomy, planetary science, geophysics, theoretical and experimental condensed-matter physics, and biophysics. A total of 28 students enroll each year for the Master’s Program and 13 for the Doctoral Program.
Our department focuses on fundamental physics as the basis of the earth and space science. This is why we aim to conduct research and education in close collaboration with the Department of Physics at the Graduate School of Science. Our department is always open to talented researchers and students from a wide variety of fields, from physics to astronomy, geophysics, geology, mineralogy, biology, and engineering. Our aim is to go beyond the traditional framework of science and develop a new frontier of interdisciplinary science, while at the same time construct a new, integrated style of the earth and space science. We see our research leading to new perspectives from which to approach the environmental problems the earth faces in the 21st century, and question of the origins of life on earth. Our ultimate aim is to facilitate developments that will change our lives for the better.