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Yasuo Fukui did his graduate research at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory (now the National Astronomical Observatory), University of Tokyo, on mm-wave observations of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Center.
He received his Doctor of Science Degree in 1979 from University of Tokyo.
He joined Radio Astronomy group in Department of Physics, Nagoya University, as an assistant professor in 1980 and initiated a new program to make large-scale survey of molecular clouds in the Galaxy by using a wide-field mm-wave telescopes of 4-m diameter. In 1993, he was promoted to a full professor of the same department and continued to lead the project.
By using two 4-m telescopes located in Nagoya and in Chile, his team carried out one of the most extensive surveys in millimeter CO transitions of the Galaxy in 1984-2013.
In particular, the second telescope installed in Chile named NANTEN innovated a molecular view of the southern Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds by a survey of 1 million observed points in 1996-2013.
The major achievements of the survey include the first spatially resolved study of the giant molecular clouds over the whole Magellanic Clouds, discovery of the molecular loops created by the Parker instability in the Galactic centre, and identification of target interstellar protons in gamma-ray production which lends unique support for the origin of cosmic rays in supernova remnants. Currently, he is actively involved in international collaborations with satellite telescopes on star forming regions and high-energy objects at wavelengths covering mm/sub-mm, far-mid infrared, and X-rays and gamma-rays. He is honored as a recipient of the first Vainu Bappu Memorial Award and the Purple Ribbon Medal, Medal of Honor.