Born in Japan, Kuroda is an American citizen. He received his Ph.D. at Tokyo University in 1944.

Two major scientific discoveries overshadow Kuroda’s impresssive work:

First was the prediction in 1956 that self-sustaining spontaneous uranium chain reactions could have occurred in nature more than 2 billion years ago. Although this was almost totally ignored at the time, in 1972 it was announced that just such a naturally occurring nuclear reactor had been found at Oklo, in the Republic of Gabon. It was just as Kuroda had envisioned.

Then, in an attempt to explain the differences between the isotopic compositions of xenon in the earth’s atmosphere and in meteorites, and to settle a fundamental question on the evolution of the elements, Kuroda postulated the existence of plutonium-244 in nature. This element, extinct on earth, but present in the galaxy, was subsequently found in 1965. It is considered direct proof that element synthesis was ongoing in the galaxy at the time of the birth of the sun.

Kuroda Memorial in Meteorites & Planetary Science

Wikipedia Page

Awards

1978 Seaborg Award: Paul K. Kuroda