Town of Ikata

Town Profile

Our Town: Scientists

'Twas but a dream: The blue LED
The LED seen 'round the world
Profile

The scientist said to be moments away from a Nobel Prize: Shūji Nakamura

Learn about scientist Shūji Nakamura from Ikata, the man who made a name for himself by inventing the high-luminosity blue LED and the purple semiconductor laser.

Name: Shūji Nakamura; Professor of Material Science Engineering, University of California-Santa Barbara
Fields of expertise: Dielectric materials, crystal formation, semiconductor devices
His most famous inventions?: The high-luminosity blue LED and the purple semiconductor laser.; Though these may not exactly be household names, they were both technologies that scientists could only dream of.

'Twas but a dream: The blue LED

An LED is a semiconductor that glows when electricity is passed through it. Of the three primary colors (RGB: Red, Green, and Blue), red and blue LEDs had already been developed.

With the addition of a blue LED we would be able to create all sorts of colors, but for a long time even the most advanced research groups in the world could not figure out how to produce one. It was expected that we would have to wait until the 21^st century to see a blue LED.

However, in 1993 the Nichia Corporation, Nakamura's employer at the time, was able to begin mass production of blue LEDs. Nakamura succeeded in developing the blue LED entirely on his own!

His company, until then a relatively unknown local chemical goods maker, suddenly became famous world-wide. Technicians and researchers in their field were shocked.

Nakamura prizes creativity and tenacity, and made use of both of these qualities during his long, hard road to great success.

Currently, Nakamura continues to pursue his research on new potential uses for LEDs as a professor at the U.S. University of California-Santa Barbara.

The LED seen 'round the world

With the invention of the blue LED, the three primary colors have come together. LEDs use little electricity but have high light output. Since it is now possible to create white light, LEDs are expected to replace fluorescent lighting.

Further applications can be found in large TV screens and information displays. This technology even gave birth to next-generation DVDs.

There are many other possible uses, with an expected market of $2 billion per year. Now you can see why the blue LED was something worth dreaming about.

Profile

1954	May	Born in the former town of Seto, Ehime prefecture
1977	March	Graduated from Tokushima University Engineering school with a B.S. in Elecronic Engineering
1979	March	Completed Tokushima University Engineering Graduate School master's program
1979	April	Began work at Nichia Corporation
1988	April	Visting researcher at Florida University
1994	September	Received Ph.D. in Engineering from Tokushima University
1996	April	Nichia Corporation Senior Researcher
2000	February	Professor of Materials Engineering at University of California-Santa Barbara

Nakamura is currently researching at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Photo of the Ōku Elementary School opening ceremony (1961). Nakamura is second from the left on the second row from the top.