Hiroshi Amano

Nobel-winning developer of blue LEDs enabling white energy-efficient lighting

Japanese physicist Hiroshi Amano (born 1960) co-created the first high-efficiency blue LED in 1993, overcoming a 30-year technological barrier. This breakthrough allowed white LED lighting that consumes 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs.

While at Nagoya University, Amano cracked the gallium nitride crystal growth challenge using sophisticated metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. As explained in IEEE Spectrum, his work enabled smartphone screens, Blu-ray players, and ecological lighting saving 1.5 billion tons annual CO2 emissions.

Unlike conventional lighting solutions, Amano's LEDs contain no mercury and last 100x longer. The UNESCO Science Report credits this innovation with bringing electricity to 1.2 billion people through solar-LED systems.