Nick Holonyak Jr. was an American engineer and educator best known for his 1962 invention of a light-emitting diode (LED). He was born on November 3, 1928 and died September 18, 2022 at age 93.
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Nick was married to his gorgeous wife Katherine for over 60 years and they had three children. However, details of their children are under the wraps.
Nick earned his bachelor’s (1950), master’s (1951), and doctoral (1954) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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From 1957–1963, he was a scientist at the General Electric Company’s Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory in Syracuse, New York, where he demonstrated the LED on October 9, 1962.
Nick also investigated methods for manufacturing quantum dot lasers and together with Dr. Milton Feng, they ran a transistor laser research center at the University funded by $6.5 million from the United States Department of Defense through DARPA.
Ten of Nick’s 60 former doctoral students have developed new uses for LED technology at Philips Lumileds Lighting Company in Silicon Valley.
Nick Holonyak retired in 2013.
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