In a few hours, a team of academics in Stockholm will reveal to the world this year’s recipients of the Nobel Prize in physics.
Last year’s winners were two scientists in Japan and one at the University of California at Santa Barbara for helping create the LED light, a transformational and ubiquitous source that now lights up everything from our living rooms to our flashlights to our smart phones.
The awarding committee said the work of the trio — Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura — is in keeping with the spirit of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the prize, because LED lights save on energy, last long and are environmentally-friendly because they don’t contain mercury.
Since 1901, the committee has handed out the Nobel Prize in physics 108 times. The youngest recipient was Lawrence Bragg, who won in 1915 at the age of 25. The oldest physics laureate was Raymond Davis Jr., who was 88 years old when he was awarded the prize in 2002.
John Bardeen was the only physicist to receive the prize twice, for work in semiconductors and superconductivity.
In the coming days, the prize committee also will announce prizes in chemistry, literature, peace and economics.
On Monday, three scientists shared the Nobel prize for medicine for their work on parasitic diseases.
Swedish industrialist Nobel created the prizes in 1895 to honor work in physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The first economics prize was awarded in 1969.