Masahiro Hara
Masahiro Hara | |
---|---|
Born | 1957 |
Nationality | Japanese |
Alma mater | Hosei University |
Known for | Inventing the QR code |
Awards | European Inventor Award |
Masahiro Hara (born 1957) is a Japanese engineer and Hosei University graduate who is best known for inventing the QR code in 1994.[1][2]
Early life and education
Hara was born in Tokyo in 1957.[3] He studied in the department of electric and electronic engineering at Hosei University.[1][4] He graduated in 1980.[5]
Career
Denso and QR code invention
Hara invented the QR code to track car parts while he was working at the Japanese company Denso Wave, which had a Toyota contract.[6][7][8][9] Hara had been given the task of coming up with a better way of tracking parts used in the automotive industry, and had helped develop a barcode system in the 1980s.[10] One day at work, over a lunchtime game of go, he recognized the game's black and white pattern could be used to encode information.[10] The code was introduced in 1994.[11]
In 2021, QR codes were being used to book and track COVID-19 tests and contact tracing.[10] Hara has stated that he would like to develop QR codes for additional medical purposes, including imaging such as x-rays or electrocardiogram data.[2] Hara still works for Denso as of 2022.[1]
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Hara was the chief engineer and advisor for a Japan International Cooperation Agency's "School For All" program to improve education in Niger.[12][13]
Selected publications
- Co-author of chapters 7 & 12 of "Educational development through community-wide collaboration", 2020 book "Community Participation with Schools in Developing Countries" ISBN 9780429057472[14][15]
Awards
In 2014, he and the inventors of the QR code development team were awarded the European Inventor Award.[16]
References
- ^ a b c "Meet the Man Who Invented The QR Code". Worldcrunch. 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
- ^ a b Oba, Yumi (19 November 2021). "'Father of QR code' says the technology's future is in storing important medical information". SBS Japanese. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "TEDxAnjo | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
- ^ Hara, Mashhiro (2019). "Development and Popularisation of QR Code" (PDF).
- ^ "Members of Faculty Pamphlet" (PDF). Hosei Univeristy. p. Cover page.
"Hosei Alumnus, Masahire Hara invented QR code (1994) Denso Cp. Ltd. Graduated from Hosei University in 1980
- ^ Gapper, John (2020-10-30). "Ant and Covid have made the humble QR code a hit". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
- ^ "The Little-Known Story of the Birth of the QR Code". nippon.com. 2020-02-10.
- ^ Boulton, J. (2014). 100 Ideas that Changed the Web. United Kingdom: Laurence King Publishing. Chapter 84 "This all changed in the early '90s at Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota. An engineer called Masahiro Hara was tasked with creating a barcode that could hold more information than the existing format. His solution was the Quick Response (QR) code..."
- ^ "Implications of QR Codes for the Business Environment - ProQuest". www.proquest.com. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
- ^ a b c "'I'm pleased it is being used for people's safety': QR code inventor relishes its role in tackling Covid". the Guardian. 2020-12-11.
- ^ Goodrich, Joanna. "How a Board Game and Skyscrapers Inspired the Development of the QR Code". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News.
- ^ Getting to Scale: How to Bring Development Solutions to Millions of Poor People. (2013). United States: Brookings Institution Press. p 296, 300
- ^ "JICA Experts, Back in Japan, Are Granted an Audience with Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino, Princess Mako and Princess Kako | News | News & Features | JICA". www.jica.go.jp. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
- ^ "Community Participation with Schools in Developing Countries: Towards Equitable and Inclusive Basic Education for All". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
- ^ Maruyama, Takao; Kurosaki, Takashi (2021-12-01). "Do remedial activities using math workbooks improve student learning? Empirical evidence from scaled-up interventions in Niger". World Development. 148: 105659. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105659. ISSN 0305-750X.
- ^ Office, European Patent. "Masahiro Hara, Motoaki Watabe, Tadao Nojiri, Takayuki Nagaya, Yuji Uchiyama (Japan)". www.epo.org.