Go Green!: Eco-Friendly LED Creators Win Nobel Prize in Physics
Go Green!: Eco-Friendly LED Creators Win Nobel Prize in Physics
Professors Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amani of Japan along with US scientist Shuji Nakamura have won the Nobel Prize for physics, as announced on 7th October, 2014. The winners had invented blue light-emitting diodes which are energy efficient as well as eco-friendly. LED light sources are also more affordable and this 20 year old invention has changed the way the world sees lighting solutions.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Science also said that this invention was just two decades old, “but it has already contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to the benefit of us all". Professor Isamu Akasaki is a professor at Meijo University and a distinguished professor at Nagoya University. Professor Nakamura is a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Professor Amano is a professor at Japan's Nagoya University.
The three Nobel laureates are known for having created a massive advancement in the field of lighting technology. They produced blue light from semiconductors during the 1990s and it was a major achievement for the world and the scientific community as well.
Through the use of the blue light, LED light sources using white light can be create d in a new way. “As about one fourth of world electricity consumption is used for lighting purposes, the LEDs contribute to saving the Earth’s resources,” the committee said. The invention has the capacity to solve the present energy crisis in the world.
The Nobel for physics last year had gone to British scientist Peter Higgs and his Belgian colleague, Francois Englert for explaining the manner in which matter was formed following the Big Bang. The Royal Academy also lauded the efforts of the present winners saying, "They succeeded where everyone else had failed. Akasaki worked together with Amano at the University of Nagoya, while Nakamura was employed at Nichia Chemicals, a small company in Tokushima. Their inventions were revolutionary. Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century will be lit by LED lamps," as per the press release
Including the present 3 Nobel laureates around 21 were born in Japan and 10 of them have been Physics Laureates. The online website of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee also mentioned that 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). 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.”
LED save up to 100,00 hours of energy compared to 1,000 for bulbs and 10,000 for flourescent lights. The prize amount of SEK 8 million will be shared equally among the Nobel Prize winners.
