Why a blue LED is worth a Nobel Prize?

Three scientists have jointly earned the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on blue LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. LEDs are basically semiconductors that have been built so they emit light when they’re activated. …

Why is blue LED so important?

LEDs have a longer lifespan, emit less heat, and use less electricity than both incandescent and compact fluorescent light sources. The invention of blue LEDs meant that blue, red, and green could all be combined to produce white LED light, which can function as an alternative energy-saving light source.

Why blue LED is considered a huge invention?

It was a huge technical achievement because the necessary properties for making blue light could not be achieved with a semiconductor similar to those already being used for LEDs. The invention of the first bright blue LED enabled the use of LEDs to make white light.

What is the significant impact of the invention of high brightness blue led by Shuji Nakamura in early 1990s?

Professors Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura made the first blue LEDs in the early 1990s. This enabled a new generation of bright, energy-efficient white lamps, as well as colour LED screens. The winners will share prize money of eight million kronor (£0.7m).

How the blue LED changed the world?

Blue LEDs, in combination with red and green LEDs (which had been discovered previously), make it possible to produce white light. And the reach of LED lights goes beyond developed countries. About 1.2 billion people in the world don’t have access to any form of electric lighting, Wetzel said.

Are blue LEDs more efficient?

Red/Blue LEDs This combination is more energy efficient than “white” or full spectrum LEDs because blue and red LEDs have the highest photon efficacy compared to other colors i.e. they convert the highest amount of electricity in photons, so you are getting more growth from your plants per dollar spent.

Do blue LEDs use more power?

The LEDs going out as the battery drains is because the forward voltage is higher for blue and green LEDs, not because the battery can’t power them.

When were blue LEDs commercially available?

In the early 1970s, these devices were too dim for practical use, and research into gallium nitride devices slowed. In August 1989, Cree introduced the first commercially available blue LED based on the indirect bandgap semiconductor, silicon carbide (SiC).

Who developed the blue LED?

Isamu Akasaki
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was shared between three Japanese blue LED inventors Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura.

What is blue LED light used for skin?

Blue light therapy is most commonly used to treat sun damage and premalignant or malignant skin cancer growths. It can actually be used to prevent skin cancer and remove both precancerous skin lesions and cancerous skin lesions that haven’t spread to other areas of the body (or metastasized).

Where was the blue LED invented?

Akasaki, Amano and Nakamura began their groundbreaking work in the 1980s, when Akasaki and Amano were researchers at Nagoya University and Nakamura was working at a small company called Nichia Chemicals.

Why does blue light help plants grow?

Blue light produces more lush greenery. Blue light is necessary for plants to regulate plant growth, as it helps to create strong stems and also helps create the chlorophyll necessary for plant processes. In other words, the chlorophyll in the plant absorbs the red and blue light much more readily than the green light.

What is the Nobel Prize for LED technology?

In the spirit of Alfred Nobel, the Prize rewards an invention of greatest benefit to mankind; using blue LEDs, white light can be created in a new way. With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources.

Who invented the blue LED?

Image credit: Yomiuri Shimbun file photo, of (from L-to-R) Isamu Akasaki, Shuji Nakamura and Hiroshi Amano, via The Japan News at http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001625473. The three men above — Akasaki, Nakamura and Amano — were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 for their discovery and development of… the blue LED.

Why did three scientists win the Nobel Prize for Physics?

Three scientists have jointly earned the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on blue LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. Why blue in particular? Well, blue was the last — and most difficult — advance required to create white LED light.

Who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014?

The three men above — Akasaki, Nakamura and Amano — were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 for their discovery and development of… the blue LED. That’s right: for a blue, light-emitting-diode.