Scientists of the Nagoya University, a partner of the IEA-USP, win the Nobel Prize in Physics

Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, from Nagoya University, and Shuji Nakamura, from the University of Califrrnia Santa Barbara

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the inventors of the LED (light-emitting diode) lamp: Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, both from the Nagoya University, and Shuji Nakamura, from the University of California Santa Barbara. The winners were announced in the morning of this Tuesday 10/7 in Stockholm, at the headquarters of the Nobel Foundation.

The Nobel Committee has justified the award to the three scientists for having invented the "efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources." According to the committee, LEDs are the light source of the 21st century, as the incandescent bulbs were in the 20th century.

The researchers will share a prize of $ 1.1 million, to be awarded in Stockholm on December 10.

The IEA-USP is honored to disclose this award since the Nagoya University, through its Institute for Advanced Research (IAR), of which Akasaki is a member, is a partner of the Brazilian Institute in the Intercontinental Academia project. The pilot edition of the interinstitutional initiative will bring together young researchers from various countries for an interdisciplinary research on time in 2015.

With the granting of the Nobel Prize to Akasaki and Amano, Nagoya University now has six winners of the award. The other four are Makoto Kobayashi (Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008), Toshihide Maskawa (Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008), Osamu Shimomura (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008) and Ryoji Noyori (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001).

These scientists (except for Amano) and seven other renowned scientists make up the Academia of the IAR. According to the website of the institute, "the Academy is composed by the 'scholars' that the university is most proud of, and who provide guidance and suggestions for the advancement of academic activities of the university, in addition to transmitting through the excellence of their work the essence of academic research to young researchers and graduate students.

Photos: Nagoya University and University of California Santa Barbara