Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura have become the latest recipients of the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday (October 7, 2014). The trio won the honours for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes — a new energy efficient and environment-friendly light source.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that even though the invention is just 20 years old, it has already contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to benefit all.
Akasaki, 85, is a professor at Meijo University and distinguished professor at Nagoya University. Amano, 54, is also a professor at Nagoya University, while the 60-year-old Nakamura is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The laureates triggered a transformation of lighting technology when they produced bright blue light from semiconductors in the 1990s, something scientist had struggled with for decades, the Nobel committee said.
