<p>Three Japanese-born researchers today won the Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing the LED lamp, a boon in the fight against global warming and aiding people in poverty.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The trio are Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, a researcher who is currently based in the United States.<br /><br />"This year's Nobel Laureates are rewarded for having invented a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source -- the blue light-emitting diode (LED)," the jury said.<br /><br />"Their inventions were revolutionary," it said.<br />"Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century will be lit by LED lamps."<br /><br />The three researchers produced bright blue light beams from semiconductors in the early 1990s, triggering a fundamental transformation of lighting technology, according to the jury.<br /><br />Red and green diodes had been around for a long time but without blue light, white lamps could not be created.<br /><br />Devising the blue LED was a challenge that endured for three decades.<br />"They succeeded where everyone else had failed," the jury said.<br /><br />It added: "With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources."<br /><br />LED lamps emit a bright white light, are long-lasting and use far less energy compared with the incandescent lightbulb pioneered by Thomas Edison in the 19th century.<br /><br />Because they have very low electricity needs, LED lights can be connected to cheap, local solar power -- a benefit for the more than 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to the electricity grid.<br /><br />The winners will share the prize sum of eight million Swedish kronor (USD 1.1 million, 883,000 euros).<br /><br />Last year the award went to Peter Higgs of Britain and Francois Englert of Belgium for the discovery of the "God particle", the sub-atomic Higgs boson which gives mass to other elementary particles.<br /><br />In line with tradition, the laureates will receive their prize at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896. <br /></p>
<p>Three Japanese-born researchers today won the Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing the LED lamp, a boon in the fight against global warming and aiding people in poverty.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The trio are Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, a researcher who is currently based in the United States.<br /><br />"This year's Nobel Laureates are rewarded for having invented a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source -- the blue light-emitting diode (LED)," the jury said.<br /><br />"Their inventions were revolutionary," it said.<br />"Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century will be lit by LED lamps."<br /><br />The three researchers produced bright blue light beams from semiconductors in the early 1990s, triggering a fundamental transformation of lighting technology, according to the jury.<br /><br />Red and green diodes had been around for a long time but without blue light, white lamps could not be created.<br /><br />Devising the blue LED was a challenge that endured for three decades.<br />"They succeeded where everyone else had failed," the jury said.<br /><br />It added: "With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources."<br /><br />LED lamps emit a bright white light, are long-lasting and use far less energy compared with the incandescent lightbulb pioneered by Thomas Edison in the 19th century.<br /><br />Because they have very low electricity needs, LED lights can be connected to cheap, local solar power -- a benefit for the more than 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to the electricity grid.<br /><br />The winners will share the prize sum of eight million Swedish kronor (USD 1.1 million, 883,000 euros).<br /><br />Last year the award went to Peter Higgs of Britain and Francois Englert of Belgium for the discovery of the "God particle", the sub-atomic Higgs boson which gives mass to other elementary particles.<br /><br />In line with tradition, the laureates will receive their prize at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896. <br /></p>