Holonyak and the LED

News-Gazette (Oct. 7) -- Three scientists were honored with Nobel prizes for their work on light-emitting diodes, but the man considered the father of the LED wasn’t among them. Retired University of Illinois engineering professor Nick Holonyak Jr. developed the first visible LED in 1962 and other components that paved the way for the invention of the blue LED honored by the Nobel committee. Although the committee recognized the importance of the LED and its impact on solid-state, environmentally friendly lighting, the trio that came up with a long-elusive component of the white LED lights built on the work of Holonyak and his proteges over the course of decades. Also: ABC News (from The Associated Press, Oct. 7), Belfast Telegraph (from AP, Oct. 8), Daily Jounal (Franklin, IN, from AP, Oct. 8), Santa Fe New Mexican (from AP, Oct. 7), Western Daily Press (from AP, Oct. 8), News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C., from AP, Oct. 7), Engineering & Technology Magazine (England, Oct. 8), ECN Magazine (from AP, Oct. 8), Belleville News-Democrat (from AP, Oct. 11).

Related stories: Dallas News (Oct. 7) -- In the story about the three physicists who won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their blue LED breakthrough, Nick Holonyak Jr. called the LED the “ultimate lamp” because “the current itself is the light.” Also: Boston Globe (from The New York Times, Oct. 8).

Kansas City Star (Oct. 8) -- Not all reactions to this year's prize recipients were laudatory. Many colleagues of Nick Holonyak Jr. have long said his work was unjustly overlooked by the Nobel committee. In the past, Holonyak, now 85, has said the award was far less important to him than the work. But Holonyak said the work done by the new winners was built on achievements by himself and dozens of others who worked with him.

New York Times (blog and video clip, Oct. 7) -- I thought it worth noting how such discoveries almost always build on a body of earlier work — in this case by another physicist, Nick Holonyak Jr., who paved the way for this team’s achievement with the invention of the first practical (red) LED, in 1962.

Scientific American (blog, Oct. 7) -- in "The Practical Blue LED, the author stated that, “the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.” There are, of course, other colored LEDs, including the red one invented by University of Illinois’ Nick Holonyak, who has been honored in many ways (sans a Nobel), but creating the blue LED was a particular challenge which was ultimately solved by using the element gallium. We use blue LEDs all the time as it is a major component of computer screens and so much more! Bill Hammack, aka The Engineer Guy, shows us a bit about the role of LEDs in his 2011 video “LCD Monitor Teardown” (embedded video).