Nick Holonyak
Nick Holonyak | |
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![]() Holonyak in 2002 | |
Born | Zeigler, Illinois, U.S. | November 3, 1928
Died | September 18, 2022 Urbana, Illinois, U.S. | (aged 93)
Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; BS 1950, MS 1951, PhD 1954 |
Known for | Inventing red LED |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | Electrical engineering |
Thesis | Effect of Surface Conditions on Characteristics of Rectifier Junctions (1954) |
Doctoral advisor | John Bardeen |
Nick Holonyak Jr. (/hʌlɒnjæk/ huh-LON-yak; November 3, 1928 – September 18, 2022) was an American engineer and educator.[1] He is noted particularly for his 1962 invention of a light-emitting diode (LED) that emitted visible red light instead of infrared light while working at General Electric's research laboratory in Syracuse, New York. After leaving General Electric in 1963, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he later became John Bardeen Endowed Chair Emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics.
Early life and career
Nick Holonyak Jr. was born in Zeigler, Illinois, on November 3, 1928.[2] His parents were Rusyn immigrants.[1][3] His father worked in a coal mine. Holonyak was the first member of his family to receive any type of formal schooling.[4] He once worked 30 straight hours on the Illinois Central Railroad before realizing that a life of hard labor was not what he wanted and he would prefer to go to school instead. According to the Chicago Tribune, "The cheap and reliable semiconductor lasers critical to DVD players, bar code readers and scores of other devices owe their existence in some small way to the demanding workload thrust upon Downstate railroad crews decades ago."[5]
Holonyak earned his bachelor's (1950), master's (1951), and doctoral (1954) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[4] Holonyak was John Bardeen's first graduate student there.[6] In 1954, Holonyak went to Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he worked on silicon-based electronic devices. From 1955 to 1957 he served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps. From 1957 to 1963 he was a scientist at the General Electric Company's Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory in Syracuse, New York,[7] where he demonstrated the LED on October 9, 1962.[8][9]
University of Illinois
In 1963, Holonyak became a professor at the University of Illinois.[10][11] In 1993, he was named the John Bardeen Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[12] He investigated methods for manufacturing quantum dot lasers. He and Dr. Milton Feng ran a transistor laser research center at the University funded by $6.5 million from the United States Department of Defense through DARPA.[13] Holonyak retired in 2013.[14]
Ten of his 60 former doctoral students have developed new uses for LED technology at Philips Lumileds Lighting Company in Silicon Valley.[9]
Inventions
In addition to introducing the III-V alloy LED, Holonyak held 41 patents. His other inventions include the red-light semiconductor laser, usually called the laser diode (used in CD and DVD players and cell phones) and the shorted emitter p-n-p-n switch (used in light dimmers and power tools).[4]
In 2006, the American Institute of Physics decided on the five most important papers in each of its journals since it was founded 75 years ago. Two of these five papers, in the journal Applied Physics Letters, were co-authored by Holonyak. The first one, co-authored with S. F. Bevacqua in 1962, announced the creation of the first visible-light LED. The second, co-authored primarily with Milton Feng in 2005, announced the creation of a transistor laser that can operate at room temperatures. Holonyak predicted that his LEDs would replace the incandescent light bulb of Thomas Edison in the February 1963 issue of Reader's Digest, and as LEDs improve in quality and efficiency they are gradually replacing incandescents as the bulb of choice.[13]
Awards and honors
Holonyak was presented awards by George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Emperor Akihito of Japan, and Vladimir Putin.[4] He also received the Global Energy International Prize, the National Medal of Technology, the Order of Lincoln Medallion, and the 2004 Lemelson–MIT Prize, also worth $500,000.[13] Many colleagues expressed their belief that he deserved the Nobel Prize for his invention of the red LED. On this subject, Holonyak said, "It's ridiculous to think that somebody owes you something. We're lucky to be alive, when it comes down to it."[4] In October 2014, Holonyak reversed his stance by stating "I find this one insulting" in reaction to news that the inventors of the blue LED were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, instead of his fellow LED researchers.[15]
- 1973: Elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to development of semiconductor controlled rectifiers, light emitting diodes and diode lasers[16][17]
- 1984: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences[18]
- 1989: IEEE Edison Medal for "an outstanding career in the field of electrical engineering with contributions to major advances in the field of semiconductor materials and devices". Holonyak's former student, Russell Dupuis from the Georgia Institute of Technology, won this same award in 2007.[4]
- 1992: Charles Hard Townes Award of the Optical Society of America[19]
- 1993: NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science[20]
- 1995: $500,000 Japan Prize for "outstanding contributions to research and practical applications of light emitting diodes and lasers"[13]
- 2001: Frederic Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America[21]
- 2003: IEEE Medal of Honor[22]
- 2005: Inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in the area of Science[23]
- November 9, 2007: Historical marker installed on the University of Illinois campus recognizing his development of the quantum-well laser. It is located on the Bardeen Engineering Quadrangle near where the old Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory used to stand.[24]
- 2008: Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (Announced February 14, 2008) (May 2–3, 2008 at Akron, Ohio)[25]
- 2015: Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering "for the invention, development, and commercialization of materials and processes for light-emitting diodes (LEDs)"[26]
- September 2018: Village of Glen Carbon, Illinois, placed an honorary street sign on behalf of Holonyak, a former resident[27]
- 2021: Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering "for the creation and development of LED lighting, which forms the basis of all solid-state lighting technology". He shares the prize with his former students M. George Craford and Russel D. Dupuis, and Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura, inventors of the Blue LED.[28]
Personal life
Holonyak and his wife, Katherine, were married for over 60 years. He died on September 18, 2022, in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 93.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Nick Holonyak". www.aip.org. February 19, 2015. Archived from the original on September 12, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
- ^ "Nick Holonyak". www.pbs.org. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
- ^ "Illinois Distributed Museum – Nick Holonyak, Jr". IDM Illinois Distributed Museum. IDM. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "After Glow". Illinois Alumni Magazine. May–June 2007.
- ^ Von, Jon (January 25, 2003). "Nice Guys Can Finish As Geniuses at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ a b Ahlberg Touchstone, Liz (September 18, 2022). "Nick Holonyak Jr., pioneer of LED lighting, dies". University of Illinois News Bureau. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "Nick Holonyak, Jr. – Biography". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ Kubetz, Rick (May 4, 2012). "Nick Holonyak, Jr., six decades in pursuit of light". University of Illinois. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
- ^ a b Wolinsky, Howard (February 5, 2005). "U. of I.'s Holonyak out to take some of Edison's luster". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ Damery, Jonathan (August 5, 2013). "Holonyak retires after 50 years in ECE". University of Illinois. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and Communications (December 22, 2018). "Illinois faculty, former students honor Nick Holonyak legacy in celebration of his birthday | Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab | UIUC". Mntl.illinois.edu. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "Nick Holonyak | Lemelson". Lemelson.mit.edu. November 3, 1928. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Port, Otis (May 23, 2005). "Nick Holonyak: He Saw The Lights". Business Week. Archived from the original on June 27, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ "LED inventor retires from U. of Illinois". Pjstar.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ Mercer, David (October 8, 2014). "LED Inventor Insulted, Feels Work Bypassed By Nobel". Electrical Engineering News and Products. Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ Nick Holonyak was elected in 1973 Archived April 4, 2019, at the Wayback Machine as a member of National Academy of Engineering in Electronics, Communication & Information Systems Engineering and Materials Engineering for contributions to development of semiconductor controlled rectifiers, light emitting diodes and diode laser.
- ^ "5 Jul 1975, Page 13 – The Edwardsville Intelligencer at". Newspapers.com. July 5, 1975. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "NAS Member Profile of Nick Holonyak". Nasonline.org. June 10, 2021. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "Charles Hard Townes Award". Osa.org. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "Recipient list of NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science winners". Archived from the original on January 8, 2015.
- ^ "Frederic Ives Medal". Osa.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "Holonyak to Receive Top IEEE Medal". Physics Today. 56 (3): 92. March 1, 2003. Bibcode:2003PhT....56T..92.. doi:10.1063/1.1570787. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022 – via physicstoday.scitation.org (Atypon).
- ^ "Laureates by Year". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
- ^ Communications, Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and. "Holonyak historical marker unveiled". ece.illinois.edu. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ "News | Engineering at Illinois | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign". Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
- ^ Ainsworth, Susan J. (January 7, 2015). "Pioneers Of Light-Emitting Diodes Honored With 2015 Charles Stark Draper Prize". cen.acs.org. Chemical & Engineering News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
- ^ Sommerhof, John (July 9, 2018). "Glen Carbon names first honorary street designation". Thetelegraph.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
- ^ Touchstone, Liz Ahlberg (February 2, 2021). "Nick Holonyak Jr., pioneer of LED lighting, awarded Queen Elizabeth Prize". news.illinois.edu. Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
Further reading
- Schmitt, Laura (2012). The Bright Stuff: The LED and Nick Holonyak's Fantastic Trail of Innovation. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. ISBN 9780615681009. OCLC 818331240.
External links
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Nick Holonyak Jr. on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki
- Nick Holonyak Jr. US National Medal of Technology, 2002.
- Oral history interview transcript with Nick Holonyak March 23, 2005, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Articles with short description
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- 1928 births
- 2022 deaths
- 20th-century American inventors
- 21st-century American inventors
- American people of Rusyn descent
- Draper Prize winners
- Electrical engineering academics
- Fellows of the American Physical Society
- Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Grainger College of Engineering alumni
- IEEE Edison Medal recipients
- IEEE Medal of Honor recipients
- Laser researchers
- Lemelson–MIT Prize
- Light-emitting diode pioneers
- Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
- Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
- Military personnel from Illinois
- National Medal of Science laureates
- National Medal of Technology recipients
- Optical engineers
- People from Zeigler, Illinois
- Semiconductor physicists
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty