LED invention wins Nobel physics prize

One American and two Japanese scientists have been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of efficient blue LED that has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.

Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano from Nagoya University, Japan, and Shuji Nakamura from the University of California at Santa Barbara produced bright blue light beams from their semiconductors in the early 1990s, triggering a fundamental transformation of lighting technology. According to the academy, this new energy-efficient and environmentally friendly light source contributes to the benefit of mankind because of its low power requirement. People from around the world who lack access to an electrical grid can power LED lamps by cheap local solar power.

Red and green diodes had been around for a long time, but without blue light, white lamps could not be created, explained Staefan Normark, permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.