Author Topic: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.  (Read 19517 times)

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Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« on: February 08, 2024, 05:22:27 pm »
Enjoy:

 
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Offline RJSV

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2024, 04:23:18 am »
   Very inspiring, thanks.
   That inventor is like 'The little engine that could',  and by that I mean the children's story about persistence.

Many engineer types can't do that, over many years, as various family or health matters get in the way, along with other special stresses.

I'd give a Nobel Prize to him, also!
 

Offline Circlotron

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2024, 05:16:08 am »
Watched it a bit earlier this afternoon, coincidentally.
Recommended.  :-+
 

Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2024, 05:28:58 am »
It seems Nichia treated him like crap towards the end especially once he got it working.  Somehow, this is sort of the nature of being an engineering employee in Japan even if you were the key to their future beyond their objections to even continue working on their key product.  I'm glad he made it out and moved to the States where he has been given the respect he deserves.  Though, I'm sure he went through a world of stress especially after he began helping Cree and that sad low 8m$ final verdict which only covered his legal fees to date.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2024, 05:31:10 am by BrianHG »
 

Offline RJSV

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2024, 06:08:43 am »
   Brianhg:
   Thanks, again.  My thoughts about SUCCESS, generally are very fluid.   Not knowing much about the man's personal life, he certainly appears to have skipped the whole marriage and kids thing, working those long hours, 7 days a week.  One (unpleasant) alternate background might have involved ironic aspects, like having a kid gone bad, in a wealthy house !  Or some other bunch of 'legal' troubles, like the 'rich' sometimes face.
   Maybe he has some eastern religious feelings that helped weather the lack of great financial rewards.   I don't know, but would be interested in some sort of biography or autobiography, to really resolve what his total experience has been.
   He certainly had a knack for defiance, of doubters and naysayers, and that in itself is a special trait.   Shit,...now I'm curious !
 

Offline schmitt trigger

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2024, 01:27:36 pm »
Exactly my thoughts.
If this person had been working at a Silicon Valley company, at the very first disagreement with his boss he would have jumped ship, gone to a venture capital firm, and started his own company.

And he would be a billionaire today.
 
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Offline richnormand

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2024, 09:06:28 pm »
Very nicely done indeed.
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Offline fourfathom

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2024, 10:11:35 pm »
Exactly my thoughts.
If this person had been working at a Silicon Valley company, at the very first disagreement with his boss he would have jumped ship, gone to a venture capital firm, and started his own company.

And he would be a billionaire today.

Perhaps.  While I appreciate VCs (I retired very comfortably at a young age, thanks to venture capital), but they usually have a fairly short time horizon.  More likely after a few years the VC would have sold off what they could to another company.  That other company would have used bits and pieces of the research and discarded the rest, probably never to get a blue LED..

I was surprised that for so many years Mr. Nakamura was able to ignore the company's orders to stop working on the blue LED.  Perhaps the book can explain this.
We'll search out every place a sick, twisted, solitary misfit might run to! -- I'll start with Radio Shack.
 
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Offline daqq

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2024, 07:33:52 pm »
Fascinating response from the employer. With such an employee after his breakthrough I'd shower him with respect, money, resources, give him his own lab chock full of assistance, whatever he wants really. It's not like they couldn't afford it.
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Offline AndyBeez

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2024, 08:08:33 pm »
Not forgetting
Quote
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources"

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/summary/


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Amano
Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isamu_Akasaki
 

Offline mawyatt

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2024, 09:36:24 pm »
Great video and story!!!

IBM had a policy that when one became an IBM Fellow, they could work on anything and got a lab with staff and funding. IBM Fellows answered to no one except maybe the CEO. Because of this policy High Temperature Superconductors were invented at IBM!!!

We had the misfortune of working for a major company, and after inventing the first fully integrated single chip silicon microwave receiver, were told by the CTO that he saw no value in wireless technology!! This after seeing a wireless thermostat (major company product line) demo in early 90 |O

Best,
Curiosity killed the cat, also depleted my wallet!
~Wyatt Labs by Mike~
 
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Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2024, 10:42:47 pm »
Exactly my thoughts.
If this person had been working at a Silicon Valley company, at the very first disagreement with his boss he would have jumped ship, gone to a venture capital firm, and started his own company.

And he would be a billionaire today.

Perhaps.  While I appreciate VCs (I retired very comfortably at a young age, thanks to venture capital), but they usually have a fairly short time horizon.

:(  I'm about to seek VC funding for a project of mine where I have been recently awarded 2 patents, but the time scale of fitness technology means I need a few years of funding before profits will kick in.  I'm in it for the long run, not interested in selling out or retiring.

I really need a partner with 'deep pockets', or a partner who will get money through a large group of multiple investors.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2024, 10:45:48 pm by BrianHG »
 

Online iMo

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2024, 10:55:36 pm »
Exactly my thoughts.
If this person had been working at a Silicon Valley company, at the very first disagreement with his boss he would have jumped ship, gone to a venture capital firm, and started his own company.

And he would be a billionaire today.

Fascinating response from the employer. With such an employee after his breakthrough I'd shower him with respect, money, resources, give him his own lab chock full of assistance, whatever he wants really. It's not like they couldn't afford it.

Found on the web:
"Loyalty is one of the cardinal virtues of the Japanese culture. You are loyal to your family, your company, whatever group you belong to. So you can imagine what happens if you betray your group: you will be a kind of outcast. Something no Japanese can live with easily.."
« Last Edit: February 13, 2024, 10:57:57 pm by iMo »
Readers discretion is advised..
 

Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2024, 01:04:37 am »
I really need a partner with 'deep pockets', or a partner who will get money through a large group of multiple investors.

Have you considered becoming your own deep-pocketed partner by winning the lottery?
You obviously don't understand the meaning of 'Deep Pockets'.
No lottery here in Canada can guarantee me 100m$ USD I require, and that's first round.  I may require a second.
I think the largest Canadian lottery occasionally hits 50m$ USD, and that will still not get me access and the notoriety I want within key specific industry insiders.
 

Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2024, 01:43:35 am »
No lottery here in Canada can guarantee me 100m$ USD I require, and that's first round.  I may require a second.
I think the largest Canadian lottery occasionally hits 50m$ USD, and that will still not get me access and the notoriety I want within key specific industry insiders.

What fitness device could possibly require $100M to prototype and go to market? An automated brainstem hijacking dongle?
It is an 'automated brainstem hijacking dongle', literally.  And it is an annual subscription service.

Not only that, but if you take a look at the another online fitness service like that of Zwift, they have just received their 5th round of funding and it was above 500m$.  I dont know how a company in business for almost a decade can achieve continuous funding, basically they aren't making any serious profit or have a new strategy up their sleeve, but my patented 'automated brainstem hijacking dongle' wont have that problem.  100m$ is small potatoes as the current global online virtual fitness market is valued at 20b$ and with a CAGR or 31.5%, within a decade it will be a 200b$ market. (According to Global Newswire.)  My patents expire in 18 years...
« Last Edit: February 14, 2024, 02:01:13 am by BrianHG »
 

Offline David Hess

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2024, 02:42:55 am »
"Loyalty is one of the cardinal virtues of the Japanese culture. You are loyal to your family, your company, whatever group you belong to. So you can imagine what happens if you betray your group: you will be a kind of outcast. Something no Japanese can live with easily.."

I might contrast Japanese loyalty with the West's Oath of Fealty, which requires loyalty in both directions.
 
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Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2024, 06:50:59 am »
It is an 'automated brainstem hijacking dongle', literally.  And it is an annual subscription service.
Are you being sarcastic? If your idea is so amazing, and you have it well-protected by patents, why not open source the implementation and fund development/marketing through donations?

Quote
Not only that, but if you take a look at the another online fitness service like that of Zwift, they have just received their 5th round of funding and it was above 500m$.  I dont know how a company in business for almost a decade can achieve continuous funding, basically they aren't making any serious profit
The secret ingredient is money laundering.
I'm being serious, my AI workout music tech does hijack your brainstem (Yes, there is more to it than that...).  I need 50 full time employees to bring a final usable product to market.  On Kickstarter, there are only around around 10 successful crowd fundings above 10m$, all of which had known artists / novelists / game devs who already had an active fan base to feed from.  Without that, I will never get what I need as 50 employees + facilities + international legal council + 5 additional international patents to be filed makes 10m$ seem too small as it will take 4 years before I expect to make profits and everyone needs a proper salary.  I'm sorry to say open source cannot cut it, I need the equivalent of a small game-dev studio.
 

Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #17 on: February 14, 2024, 06:53:34 am »
2006 Millennium Technology Prize Winner Shuji Nakamura

 

Offline BrianHGTopic starter

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #18 on: February 16, 2024, 08:42:49 am »
Remember these: The blue LEDs that existed before the current InGaN blue LEDs...



I remember at the time that my Volkswagen Passat car had a blue 5mm led as an indicator in it's dash board.  It had a blue tinted lens.  I believe it was there to indicate that the high-beams were on.  Boy was it dim...
 

Online Zero999

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #19 on: February 17, 2024, 09:35:53 am »
Beat me to it. I admit, I haven't watched the Veritasium, because I lost interest in is channel awhile ago, but just seem that one.

Yes, I remember those old. expensive blue LEDs. I think I still have a few somewhere. I was fascinated by lighting when I was a child. It got me into electronics.
 

Online mikeselectricstuff

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #20 on: February 17, 2024, 09:45:35 am »
I remember the initial excitement, and then the disappointment of getting one of the early, expensive SiC blue LEDs - I think from RS.
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Offline nfmax

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Re: The race and bumpy road to create the blue LED.
« Reply #21 on: February 17, 2024, 11:02:25 am »
The very first blue LEDs date back to 1906-07, discovered by the British engineer H J Round, one of Marconi's pioneering team, and published in a letter to Electrical World:

Quote
To the Editors of Electrical World:

SIRS: – During an investigation of the unsymmetrical passage of current through a contact of carborundum and other substances, a curious phenomenon was noted. On applying a potential of 10 volts between two points on a crystal of carborundum, the crystal gave out a yellowish light. Only one or two specimens could be found, which gave a bright glow on such a low voltage, but with 110 volts, a large number could be found to glow. In some crystals, only edges gave the light, and others gave instead of a yellow light green, orange, or blue. In all cases tested, the glow appears to come from the negative pole, a bright blue-green spark appearing at the positive pole. In a single crystal, if contact is made near the center with the negative pole, and the positive pole is put in contact at any other place, only one section of the crystal will glow, and that same section, wherever the positive pole is placed.

There seems to be some connection between the above effect and the e.m.f. produced by a junction of carborundum and another conductor when heated by a direct or alternating current, but the connection may be only secondary as an obvious explanation of the e.m.f. effect is the thermoelectric one. The writer would be glad of references to any published account of an investigation of this or any allied phenomena.

New York, N. Y.

H. J. Round
 


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