Norio Kaifu (海部 宣男, Kaifu Norio; 21 September 1943 – 13 April 2019) was a Japanese astronomer. He was best known as the president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from 2012 to 2015. He directed the Subaru telescope project, which housed the largest monolithic primary mirror in the world from its commission until 2005. Kaifu researched in radio astronomy, extragalactic astronomy, cosmic magnetic fields, non-stable stars, and infrared astronomy. The minor planet 6412 Kaifu is named in his honor. Kaifu died of pancreatic cancer on 13 April 2019, at the age of 75.
Source: “Norio Kaifu”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt