Science Stories #1
Do you know this man? No? Then I'm going to tell you a story about how he invented one little but useful thing and won the nobel price with it.
Born in Ikata, Japan, on May 22, 1954, he is the inventor of the blue LED. Before he invented this little thing there were only red, yellow and green LEDs and you could say that he is also the inventor of the white LED because he discovered the basis to even make it. You know, the spectrum, right? Blue+Red+Green=White
blue LED
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white LED
spectrum
At first he studied at the university Tokushima where he graduated with a bachelor of engineering degree in electronic engineering in 1977. After that he worked at Nichia Corporation and developed there the first very bright gallium nitride LED, which emittes blue light. Althoug Nichia gave him a bonus of only 20.000 Yen (165 $) for this world changing invention, so he claimed, he sued them years later. 2001 was the year where he sued his former employer Nichia over his bonus for this discovery. Though he originally won the appeal of 170 mio $ both parties settled for a 9 mio $ bonus.
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Only two years ago he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Today he is a professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Now I guess you're thinking know 'What does this all have to do with me?' Well they're widely used in lightning applications in hospitals, cars, offices, traffic lights, signs, electronic equipment and many other things. LEDs are also widely used in museums because they don't radiate UV radiation which can harm organic materials such as old manuscripts and paintings. Also they're not as power consuming as the old light bulbs because they radiate less heat.
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white LEDs of a flashlight
His name is Shuji Nakamura if haven't guessed it already
Thanks for reading
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