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History of the LED — the Movie

Posted by timothy on from the some-dude's-bright-idea dept.

ptorrone writes "MAKE Magazine has a fantastic 'Connections'-style video called THE LED — The short documentary has the history of the LED to modern day applications. Starting with the work of Russian Oleg Vladimirovich Losev, which was largely ignored in the 1920s, to making your own 'Cat's Whisker' — a primitive LED made from a metal-semiconductor point-contact junction forming a Schottky barrier diode. The first practical visible-spectrum LED was developed in 1962 by Nick Holonyak Jr., while working at General Electric Company."

5 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. LED: The Movie by illumastorm · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was such an enlightening experience.

  2. Re:Best not to overdrive them though by MarkRose · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think someone swindled you. They obviously sold you SEDs: Smoke Emitting Diodes. I got taken several times myself as a kid. It took me a while before I figured out how to spot proper components that kept the magic smoke inside.

    --
    Be relentless!
  3. Re:Illuminating film by MarkRose · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like, you can only resist the current of electronics jokes until the intensity of desire becomes too much and you breakdown, right?

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    Be relentless!
  4. Re:Illuminating film by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nonsense! Two atoms walk into a bar. The first says "I think I've lost an electron", and the second replies "Are you sure?", and the first one says "I'm positive"

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    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  5. Re:Baby Blues. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I might try this sometime. Should I apply the soldering iron to the LED or the product designer?