this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
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The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea.

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[–] pedestrian@links.hackliberty.org 135 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Shuji Nakamura was a researcher at Nichia who was determined to create the first blue LED, which had eluded scientists for decades. Through innovative crystal growth techniques and materials discoveries, he succeeded in developing bright blue and white LEDs in the early 1990s. This breakthrough enabled LEDs to be used for full-spectrum lighting. Nichia's fortunes grew enormously as a result, though Nakamura was not properly compensated for his invention. Today, LEDs powered by Nakamura's blue LED technology are ubiquitous and have brought enormous energy savings worldwide.

Something interesting I found was that Nakamura persisted in his research for blue LEDs against the wishes of his company management, who saw it as a waste of resources. His stubbornness and belief in his work paid off by solving a problem that had stumped the electronics industry for 30 years.

[–] Steak@lemmy.ca 124 points 10 months ago (2 children)

He really got screwed. They didn't want him even working on blue LEDs and then when he was right and actually made one they gave him nothing and made hundreds of millions of dollars. Then sued him when he left to work for another company for "leaking company secrets" which was really all his work. He counter sued and the courts awarded him like 189 million, then the company counter sued back and he got 8 million which just covered his legal fees.

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago

Wow... for brief, fleeting moment i thought justice prevailed in the end. Silly me.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 31 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Is this an AI generated comment? It sure reads like one.

[–] CorvidCawder@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I try to be. Being real in this world is kind of a drag.

[–] pedestrian@links.hackliberty.org 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes - I didn't have time to watch the video and wanted a text summary. Thought others might find it useful

[–] cornflaku@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

same position can't watch the video; it was very useful thank you! scrolled forever looking for this, exactly what I was after.

[–] bort@feddit.de 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

full-spectrum lighting

this doesn't sound true.

iirc full spectrum means "every wavelength" (like sunlight) and not just "3 wavelengths that add up to white".

[–] LaggyKar@programming.dev 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's true (here's an interesting video on the subject of colored light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYbdx4I7STg), but as mentioned at https://youtu.be/AF8d72mA41M?si=i8wjHjaKRaQbf23b&t=1516, once you have a blue LED, you can use a phosphor to convert the light to a range of longer wavelengths.

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https://piped.video/AF8d72mA41M?si=i8wjHjaKRaQbf23b&t=1516

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