A unit for research and education (chair or 'Koza') on industrial catalytic chemistry was started in 1962 in the Department of Synthetic Chemistry of the Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. The department was one of many new ones created in Japan according to the new policy of the government to promote the rapid growth of industry and the economy. Professor Yoneda was the first professor of that Koza, and was succeeded by Misono in 1983 after his retirement. The 60's were a very prosperous period for the research and development of catalysis in Japan; many new Koza's on catalysis were launched in universities during this period.
Being keenly aware of the necessity of 'designability' in engineering sciences, Professor Yoneda emphasized from the beginning of his study on heterogeneous catalysis the importance of catalyst design, and attempted to establish the methodology for it based on the quantitative correlations between the chemical properties of catalysts (and reactants) and catalyst performance. Early studies were devoted to the measurement of the distribution of acid strength and oxidizing ability on the catalyst surface and to correlating these measurements quantitatively with the catalyst performance. The concept and achievements which he made in this direction were given as a plenary lecture at the fourth ICC meeting held in Moscow