Shuji Nakamura

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Millennium Technology Prize laureate
Image:ShujiNakamura.jpg
Shuji Nakamura
Millennium Technology Prize
Year awarded:	2006
Invention:	Blue and white LEDs
Prize presented by:	Tarja Halonen
Previous laureate:	Tim Berners-Lee
Following laureate:	Will be announced in 2008

Shuji Nakamura (中村修二 Nakamura Shūji, born in May 22, 1954, Ikata, Ehime, Japan) is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Nakamura graduated from the University of Tokushima in 1977 with a degree in electronic engineering, and obtained a master's degree in the same subject two years later, after which he joined the Nichia Corporation, also based in Tokushima. It was while working for Nichia that Nakamura invented the first high brightness GaN LED whose brilliant blue light is (when combined with yellow filters) the key to white LED lighting, and which went into production in 1993. He was awarded a Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Tokushima in 1994. He left Nichia Corporation in 1999 and took a position as a professor of engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 2001, Nakamura sued his former employer Nichia over his bonus for the discovery, which was originally 20,000 Yen (~US$180). Although Nakamura originally won an appeal for 20 billion Yen (~US$180 million), Nichia appealed the award and the parties settled in 2005 for 840 million Yen (~US$7 million), at the time the largest bonus ever paid by a Japanese company.

Nakamura has also worked on green and white LEDs, and blue laser diodes, which are used in Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs.^[1]

In 2006, Nakamura was awarded the second Finland's Millennium Technology Prize for his continuing efforts to make cheaper and more efficient light sources.^[2]^[3]

[edit] References

^ "Work in Colored Lights Nets Millennium Prize" by Richard Harris. All Things Considered, June 15, 2006. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5488821
^ Shuji Nakamura wins the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize [1]
^ Top prize for 'light' inventor. BBC News (2006-09-08). Retrieved on September 8, 2006.

[edit] Further reading

Shuji Nakamura, Gerhard Fasol, Stephen J. Pearton, The Blue Laser Diode : The Complete Story, Springer; 2nd edition, October 2, 2000, (ISBN 3-540-66505-6)