The Little Light that Could
LED lighting’s astounding innovation has changed the world, with more changes to come. Learn more in this exclusive interview with three engineers behind the development of LEDs.
On February 2nd, 2021, the 2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) was given to five engineers who were critical to the invention and ensuing development of what would become the keystone of solid-state lighting technology: LEDs. Light-emitting diodes are a semiconductor that produces high-efficiency bright light with lower energy consumption, and has come to be seen as one of our world’s best mitigations for climate change.
The QEPrize winners are Isamu Akasaki, Shuji Nakamura, Nick Holonyak Jr, M. George Craford and Russell Dupuis, all distinguished by notable careers in physics and engineering disciplines. The prize is long overdue, as society has enjoyed the benefits of LED lighting for decades.
From auto headlights and traffic lights, to computer monitors, laser pointers (favorites of college professors and cats alike), and emergency lighting in theaters and airplanes, LEDs are a fixture that all of us have used in various ways. LEDs by themselves are a $100 billion + industry that is growing despite LED bulbs lasting up to 25 times…
