Blue LEDs Light the Way According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

A couple of weeks ago the Nobel committee awarded the physics prize to the scientists, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, for inventing efficient blue light emitting diodes (LEDs). Turns out, there’s some controversy about who really invented the blue LED but that aside, the blue LED paved the way create white LED light leading to the practical use of the technology for lighting.

LEDs have and will continue to change the world and usher in tremendous energy savings. Of course, LEDs have already revolutionized television monitors with sharp, efficient HD displays. Can you imagine the digital signage industry being as advanced as it is without LED displays? Just picture the old, bulky, heavy CRT tubes hanging from ceilings and mounted on walls where you see sleek LED displays – it wouldn’t have happened – not to mention the building-sized displays that we see at sports venues and in major cities.

It’s important to remember that basic research leads to major practical technology advances.