Takeshi Hasegawa

Japanese

1943

Takeshi Hasegawa was the psychologist of the Japanese Computer Technique Group (CTG), a Kyoto University behaviorist who studied how people learn to recognize figures. He learned FORTRAN on NHK’s IBM 7090 during trips to Tokyo, programmed computer-graphic works for CTG, and with Fujio Niwa ensured the group stayed true to its roots by regularly questioning the purpose of the works.

Full Bio

Takeshi Hasegawa was the group’s psychologist — a Kyoto University behaviorist who studied how humans learn to recognize figures, working with neuron-signal data. With no computer available to him at Kyoto University, he learned FORTRAN on trips to Tokyo, on NHK’s IBM 7090, and like Tsuchiya he earned an honorable mention in IBM’s student essay competition.

Within CTG, Hasegawa programmed computer-graphic works of distinctive character and, together with Niwa, kept the group honest by constantly questioning the purpose of its works. During his CTG years he published a research abstract on the psychology of learning in 1968, and an article on creativity in the computer age in the magazine Computopia in 1969.