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(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 10, 2014, Meijo University professor Isamu Akasaki gestures while answering questions during a press conference at Nagoya University in Nagoya, central Japan. (Photo by TORU YAMANAKA / AFP)
TOKYO (AP) – Japanese Nobel laureate Isamu Akasaki, who won the physics prize for pioneering energy-efficient LED lighting, a weapon against global warming and poverty, has died at the age of 92, his university reported Friday.
Akasaki won the 2014 award with two other scientists, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura. Together they developed the blue light-emitting diode, described as a “revolutionary” invention by the Nobel jury.
He died of pneumonia Thursday morning at a Nagoya city hospital, according to a statement on the website of Meijo University, where Akasaki had been a professor.
LED lamps last for tens of thousands of hours and consume only a fraction of energy compared to the incandescent light bulb pioneered by Thomas Edison in the 19th century.
Red and green diodes had been around for a long time, but designing a blue LED was the holy grail, as all three colors must mix to recreate the white light from the sun.
The trio made their breakthrough in the 1990s, after three long decades of dogged work, when they managed to get brilliant blue rays out of semiconductors.
“His inventions were revolutionary. Incandescent light bulbs lit up the 20th century. The 21st century will be illuminated by LED lamps, ”said the 2014 Nobel jury.
In addition to providing the missing piece of the puzzle for bright white lamps, its advance also helped develop the color LED displays used in smartphones and a host of modern technology.
After winning the award, Akasaki gave advice to the young researchers: “Don’t be fooled by fashion issues. Do what you want if it’s really what you want to do. “
“At first it was said that this could not be invented during the 20th century. A lot of people left (the research project), but I never considered doing it, ”he said.
Born in 1929 in Kagoshima in southern Japan, Akasaki graduated from the prestigious Kyoto University in 1952.
After working for several years as a researcher at Kobe Kogyo Corporation, now Fujitsu, he began his academic career at Nagoya University in 1959.
In an interview published by the University of Meijo in 2010, he described the trio’s struggle to gain recognition for their work.
“When we announced the results that were important at that time in 1981 at an international conference, there was no reaction. I felt alone in the desert, ”he said.
“But he was determined not to abandon this investigation, even if he was alone.”
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