Three Japanese-born researchers won the Nobel Prize for Physics on Tuesday for inventing the lED lamp, a boon in the fight against global warming and aiding people in poverty.
The trio are Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, a researcher who is currently based in the United States.
“This year’s Nobel laureates are rewarded for having invented a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source — the blue light-emitting diode (lED),” the jury said.
“Their inventions were revolutionary,” it said. “Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century will be lit by lED lamps.” The three researchers produced bright blue light beams from semiconductors in the early 1990s, triggering a fundamental transformation of lighting technology, according to the jury. Red and green diodes had been around for a long time but without blue light, white lamps could not be created. Devising the blue lED was a challenge that endured for three decades.
“They succeeded where everyone else had failed,” the jury said. It added: “With the advent of lED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources.”