Shigeru Nakayama, an independent scholar, was the fifth Terasaki Chair in  U.S.-Japan Relations during the 2008-2009 academic year. His teaching schedule included "The History of Science in Japan 1600-present," a senior seminar on Traditional  Science in East Asia in winter quarter and a graduate seminar on "Science and Society in Contemporary Japan." Shigeru Nakayama graduated from Tokyo University with a degree in mathematical astronomy. He quit the field when he discovered from an American scientific journal that his analytical methods were outdated. He says the postwar Japanese scientific world had not recovered from wartime isolation and deep economic devastation.  He left Japan and worked with renowned scholars Thomas Kuhn, Harvard University, and Joseph Needham, Cambridge University, before completing his doctorate in the History of Science at Harvard University. He started his teaching career at Tokyo University where he initiated the History of Science field. Upon retiring from Tokyo University, he joined Kanagawa University where he established the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Program. Nakayama is a leading scholar in his field, boasting 30 books published in Japanese including his five volume series A Social History of Science and Technology in Contemporary Japan; four of which were translated into English and are a standard reference for research on the period.