Takeshi Oka

Takeshi Oka (岡 武史),, is a Japanese-American spectroscopist and astronomer specializing in the field of galactic astronomy, known as a pioneer of astrochemistry and the co-discoverer of interstellar trihydrogen cation.

He is now R.A. Milliken Distinguished Service Emeritus Professor, Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry; Enrico Fermi Institute; and the College of University of Chicago.

Oka received his BS and PhD degrees in 1955 and 1960, respectively, at the University of Tokyo.

From 1960 to 1963, Oka was a JSPS Fellow at the University of Tokyo, and in 1963, he was a postdoctoral fellow along with Harry Kroto and J.K.G.Watson, among others, in Gerhard Herzberg's spectroscopy laboratory at the National Research Council of Canada.

Afterward, he successively worked at the National Research Council of Canada (1964–1981), and at the University of Chicago (1981–).

His research group is concerned with the study of the quantum mechanics and dynamics of fundamental molecular ions and their behavior in astronomical objects.

In 1980, at the National Research Council of Canada, Oka discovered the infrared spectrum of Trihydrogen cation.

which is thought to be the starting point for gas phase chemistry in interstellar "molecular clouds."

Following a lengthy search Thomas R. Geballe and Oka detected the infrared spectrum of in two interstellar clouds.

Since then Oka and his colleagues have published numerous papers on their observations of interstellar.

Oka was on the list of ChemBank's prediction for the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.