News

24 June 2009

 

Blue LED pioneer Akasaki awarded $500,000 Kyoto Prize

The Inamori Foundation says that Isamu Akasaki (a professor at both Nagoya University and Meijo University in Japan) is among the laureates of its annual Kyoto Prize, an international award celebrating its 25th anniversary that honors contributions to the “scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind”. The prize is presented on 10 November each year in three categories (Advanced Technology, Basic Sciences, and Arts and Philosophy).

Picture: Isamu Akasaki.

For 2009, the Kyoto Prize in ‘Advanced Technology’ focuses on electronics. Akasaki, 80, will receive the award for pioneering work that led to the development of the blue LED. After decades of research on gallium nitride, Akasaki created GaN-based positive-negative (p-n) junctions, making the blue LED practically possible. This stimulated research on blue LEDs worldwide, and served as the first step toward their eventual commercialization in the 1990s.

Applications now include displays for mobile electronic devices; large outdoor display equipment and signage; railway and road traffic signals; and vehicle lamps. Also, with the advent of blue semiconductor lasers, the capacity of optical recording media such as Blu-ray discs has been increased.

The award citation also says that Akasaki’s research has not only led to diverse new applications in electronic equipment but also offers promise for protecting the global environment as blue LEDs are adopted for energy-conserving general-purpose lighting.

During a week of ceremonies beginning 9 November in Kyoto, each laureate will be presented with a diploma, a 20-karat-gold Kyoto Prize medal, and a cash gift of 50m yen (about $500,000) per prize category.

The laureates will also reconvene in San Diego, CA, USA on 20-22 April 2010 for the ninth annual Kyoto Prize Symposium.

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Visit: www.kyotoprize.org