October 7, 2014
Mariah Timms
News Writer
World News
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded jointly to to Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, both of Nagoya University, Japan and Shuji Nakamura, of the University of California Santa Barbara, CA, USA. These scientists were the catalysts in honing the modern LED light, now in wide and common use. In order to create the familiar white light, it was necessary to create red, blue and green diodes. These scientists determined how to produce the elusive final blue diode. LED lights save on energy, last longer than older bulbs and are also less dangerous to the environment because they do not contain mercury. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarding committee said of the technology, that LED lights “hold great promise for increasing the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity grids.” The committee praised the scientists, saying, “They succeeded where everyone else failed.”
