Millennium Technology Prize Awarded to LED Creator

mapkinase writes "This year's Millennium Technology Prize was awarded to Prof. Nakamura of Japan, for invention of white, blue and green light emitting diodes." From the article: "His other inventions such as blue LEDs are used in flat-screen displays, while blue lasers are already being exploited in the next generation of DVD player. 'Professor Nakamura's technological innovations in the field of semiconductor materials and devices are groundbreaking,' said Jaakko Ihamuotila, chairman of the Millennium Prize Foundation. The Millennium Technology Prize is the world's largest technology award, equivalent to the Nobel Prizes for science. It recognizes technological developments that have a positive impact on quality of life and sustainable development."

Comments

Nobel equivalent? I don't think so.

[the eric conspiracy]

Why is it that every large prize (Fields medal, Millenium Prize etc.) is described as being equivalent to the Nobel Prize? When in fact it isn't?

The Nobel Prize is occasionally awarded to technologists, or inventions by scientists that were not new science but rather applications. Jack Kilby's Nobel is a perfect example. The Millenium Technology Prize does not carry anything like the history or even the sensibility of the Nobel. For example how is the invention of HTML such a big deal? Compared to the work of a technologist like Norman Borlaug it is laughable.

There isn't a Nobel for mathematics - one could make a pretty good case there should have been. But there is no 'equivalent' to the Nobel.

Re:Nobel equivalent? I don't think so.

[wakaranai]

There have been a number of prizes offered, to try to make up for the missing mathematics Nobel... the Abel, Shaw and Crafoord Prizes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_prize#Lack_of_a _mathematics_prize

However, they don't appear to have captured the public or media's imagination, compared to the Nobel (or Fields)

Nakamura first to make led, BUT

[lhpineapple]

the buffer layer technique was first published by Theodore Moustakas and remains his intellectual property.

Linky

I wish more people knew this. He's one of the best professors I've ever had and a hell of a nice guy.

A correction

[edward.virtually@pob]

As this is the second time I've read the false claim that Professor Nakamura invented green leds -- green leds having existed since the 70s -- I looked into it and discovered it's another case of sloppy (read inaccurate) reporting. He invented the GaN-based green led, not green leds in general. Technical reporters need to stop omitting words because they're too ignorant to know they're important. I can only guess how many people are now misinformed as a result of said sloppy reporting. Grumble.

Saw him lecture once

[rjforster]

I did a PhD at Strathclyde Uni in Glasgow, Scotland[1]

Shuji gave a coloquia lecture there once, must have been 1998 or 1999. It was just amazing. Given that I was in the photonics department, everyone knew what a bright LED was supposed to look like. Shuji came in, told us about the science in a 'doh, it was so obvious now you tell me' kind of way, then he showed us the toys.
The LEDs he connected up to his little pen sized battery unit and shone into the audience. Blues, Greens, Violets[2], Whites etc. They were really bright.
Then he connected up the laser diodes. He shone those onto a piece of white card he held[3] and F**k me but they were bright.

[1] The bit to the north of England.
[2] The kind of colour you can't really focus on, really weird, hard to describe.
[3] We only have mortal retinas after all.