Norio Kaifu

was a Japanese astronomer. He served as the director-general of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) from 2000 to 2006. He was later president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from 2012 to 2015. He was a researcher of radio astronomy, extraglactic astronomy, cosmic magnetic fields, non-stable stars and infrared astronomy.
Kaifu died of pancreatic cancer on 13 April 2019, at the age of 75. Toshiki Kaifu, a politician and Matoko Kobayashi, physicist were his brother.