The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded Tuesday to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for their research into a new energy efficient and environment-friendly light source.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said their invention of blue light-emitting diodes is just 20 years old, “but it has already contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to the benefit of us all.”
All three scientists are from Japan, where Akasaki, 85, and Amano, 54, are based. Nakamura, 60, is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“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.
Nobel Prize announcements in chemistry, literature and peace will take place later this week. The economics prize will be announced next week.
On Monday, husband-and-wife scientists Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser of Norway and New York-born researcher John O’Keefe won the Nobel in medicine.