LED Inventor, U of I Professor, Feels Work Bypassed By Nobel
Nick Holonyak Jr., a former professor at the University of Illinois, poses in this 2004 file photo. (AP Photo/Bill Wiegand, HO)
A retired University of Illinois physicist is questioning whether a Nobel Prize awarded to three scientists Tuesday ignores the work he and others did to invent the world's first LED.
Nick Holonyak Jr. invented that first, red light-emitting diode back in 1962.
Some colleagues have said the invention deserved the Nobel. Holonyak never won the honor and never asserted he deserved it.
But on Tuesday the 85-year-old Holonyak called the decision to bypass his work "insulting." He said the award winners' blue LED wouldn't be possible without his invention.
LEDs have made fiber-optics networks, DVDs and a range of other technologies possible.
University of Louisville professor Delaina Amos works with LEDs. She said the blue LED deserves the award, but so does Holonyak's.