A look at winners of 2014 Nobel Prize in physics

FILE - In this June 15, 2006 file photo, Prof. Shuji Nakamura demonstrates different LED lights during a presentation in Santa Barbara, Calif. when he was awarded the $1.2 million Millennium Technology Prize for revolutionary inventions in light and laser technology. Nakamura along with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan won Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes — a new energy efficient and environment-friendly light source. (AP Photo/The News Press, Steve Malone, File) NO SALES

Prof. Shuji Nakamura demonstrates different LED lights during a presentation in Santa Barbara, Calif. when he was awarded the $1.2 million Millennium Technology Prize for revolutionary inventions in light and laser technology. AP

Who won?

Japanese scientists Isamu Akasaki, 85, a professor at Meijo University, Nagoya, and Hiroshi Amano, 54, a professor at Nagoya University; and American scientist Shuji Nakamura, 60, of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

For what?

For inventing blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, that has enabled companies to create a light that appears white, allowing them to replace traditional bulbs while keeping the same color tones that consumers feel comfortable with.

 

Significance

The development of blue LEDs has in just two decades helped spread the use of these energy efficient and environment-friendly light sources.

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