Millennium Technology Prize Awarded to LED Creator

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Saturday September 9, 2006 @07:02AM from the seeing-the-award-by-led-lined-light dept.

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."

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A correction by edward.virtually@pob · 2006-09-09 08:10 · Score: 5, Informative

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.