Nick Holonyak Jr created the first practical, visible spectrum LED
Earlier this week, Lighting reported that the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics had been awarded for the invention of blue LEDs. While the three scientists responsible for the invention celebrated their achievement, it seems not everyone was impressed by the accolade.
Nick Holonyak Jr, a former University of Illinois professor and General Electric employee who invented the first practical, visible spectrum LED, has hit out at the Nobel Prize committee by insisting that the blue LED would not have been invented without the advances he and his peers
"The LED as you know it today comes from us,” Holonyak told The Associated Press: “The blue LED You cannot get to it, cannot [without our work].
"Hell, I’m an old guy now, but I find this one insulting.”
Despite feeling that he has been overlooked, Holonyak insists he isn’t trying to diminish the work of the three scientists, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, who have received this year’s honour.
