What is Nick Holonyak known for?

Nick Holonyak Jr., an American engineer and educator famous for his 1962 invention of a light-emitting diode (LED) has died. He was 93 years old.

Holonyak predicted that his LEDs would replace the incandescent light bulb of Thomas Edison in the February 1963 issue of Reader’s Digest, and as LEDs improve in quality and efficiency they are gradually replacing incandescents as the bulb of choice.

His other inventions include;

• The red-light semiconductor laser, usually called the laser diode (used in CD and DVD players and cell phones) and
• The shorted emitter p-n-p-n switch (used in light dimmers and power tools).

In 2006, two of Holonyak’s papers made it to the American Institute of Physics’s top five most important papers in each of its journalssince it was founded 75 years ago.

• The first one, co-authored with S. F. Bevacqua in 1962, announced the creation of the first visible-light LED.
• The second, co-authored primarily with Milton Feng in 2005, announced the creation of a transistor laser that can operate at room temperatures.

Holonyak died on Sept 18 and he is survived by Katherine, his wife of over 60 years and three children.