Hideo Hosono is a professor of Institute for Innovative Research and the director of materials research center for element strategy at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D in applied chemistry from Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1982 and became a professor at Tokyo Tech in 1999 via associate professors at Nagoya Institute of Technology and Institute for Molecular Science at Okazaki.

His research is in inorganic materials science, emphasizing the exploration and design of functionality utilizing electron in solid inorganic materials composed of abundant elements. He has focused on cultivation of transparent oxide semiconductors and exploration of new superconductors and electride materials. Representative achievements are invention of InGaZnOx (IGZO) thin film transistors which are now applied to drive high definition liquid crystal display panels and large-sized organic light emitting display-TVs, discovery of Iron-based high Tc-superconductors, and creation of RT stable electride C12A7:e.

He is a member of science council of Japan and is a recipient of the Japan Prize and Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy.