Hironori is a high-energy astrophysicist at Osaka University, Japan. He started his career by studying X-ray emissions from early-type galaxies and clusters of galaxies using the ASCA satellite. Then he discovered the X-ray source M82 X-1 with Chandra and started to study ultra-luminous X-ray sources. Now Hironori is interested in X-ray emissions from the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy, especially the follow-up X-ray observations of unidentified TeV gamma-ray sources, so-called “dark accelerators.”Besides these X-ray observations, he has been heavily involved in the development of X-ray instruments. Hironori participated in the development of the X-ray CCD (X-ray Imaging Spectrometer; XIS) on board the Suzaku satellite, and then he developed the Hard X-ray Telescope (HXT) on board the Hitomi satellite as a deputy leader of the HXT team.
Hironori is chair of the ISAS Athena working group and a member of the Athena Science Study Team on behalf of ISAS/JAXA. He is co-chair of the SWG3, Observatory Science of Athena.
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Image: Hard X-ray Telescope on board Hitomi satellite.