Japanese scientists Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano and American Shuji Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing a new energy efficient and environmentally friendly light source, the LED, the award-giving body said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
“With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize.
“As about one fourth of world electricity consumption is used for lighting purposes, the LEDs contribute to saving the Earth’s resources,” it said.
Akasaki works at the Meijo University in Japan and Amano is professor at the Nagoya University. Nakamura, born in Japan but a U.S. citizen, works at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Physics was the second of this year’s crop of Nobels. The prizes were first awarded in 1901 to honour achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and business tycoon Alfred Nobel.
