Nick holonyak jr biography family

The medal is sponsored by Friends of Nick Holonyak, Jr. There he investigated silicon-based electronic devices. He left in to serve in the U. While at the lab, he invented a shorted emitter thyristor device. The four-layered semiconductor is now found in light dimmers and power tools.

Nick holonyak jr biography

In he invented the red-light semiconductor laser, known as a laser diode , which now is found in cellphones as well as CD and DVD players. Later that year, he demonstrated the first visible LED—a semiconductor source that emits light when current flows through it. LEDs previously had been made of gallium arsenide. He created crystals of gallium arsenide phosphide to make LEDs that would emit visible, red light.

His work led to the development of the high-brightness, high-efficiency white LEDs that are found in a wide range of applications today, including smartphones, televisions, headlights, traffic signals, and aviation.

Nick holonyak jr biography children

Besides being a prolific inventor, Holonyak is a prominent educator as the John Bardeen Chair of Electrical Engineering at his alma mater, having supervised the doctoral degree programs of 60 graduate students, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in the field of electronics in their own right. With a lifetime of contributions to science and technology, the young boy that started work on the railroads of Illinois has now carved a path to light our future.

Nick Holonyak, Jr. Holonyak, Jr. For the development of the first visible red laser and LED used in displays and lighting, and the use of various alloys in colored light sources, which led to reduced energy consumption worldwide and contributed to the realization of optical data communications as the backbone of the Internet. Information as of April 1, Electrical and computer engineering professor Milton Feng, left, frequently collaborated with Holonyak.

The two developed the transistor laser.

Nick holonyak jr biography death

Photo by L. Brian Stauffer More recently, Holonyak developed a technique to bend light within gallium arsenide chips, a development allowing computer chips to transmit information by light rather than electricity. Holonyak is survived by his wife, Katherine, to whom he was married for more than 60 years. Known for his excellence in mentorship, Holonyak talks with a U.

Army Signal Corps and in joined the Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory of the General Electric Company in Syracuse, NY where he made important inventions and key contributions in the area of advanced semiconductor devices, including the invention of the first visible semiconductor laser. In , Dr. Holonyak has been responsible for several important breakthroughs, particularly in the area of crystal preparation of compounds and ternary alloys, light-emitting diodes, and semiconductor lasers.

Since , he has conducted extensive research on quantum-well and other novel light-emitting structures. Ferst Award At the invitation of the U. Academy of Sciences, he has visited laboratories in the Soviet Union , , and in was a regular seminar speaker at the laboratory of Makoto Kikuchi of the Electrotechnical Laboratory Tokyo.

Nick holonyak jr biography wikipedia

He was awarded the IEEE Edison Medal 'For an outstanding career in the field of electrical engineering with contributions to major advances in the field of semiconductor materials and devices. Apart from his work and interests in semiconductor materials and devices, and research with his graduate students, Nick Holonyak enjoys reading, and some running and weightlifting.

He was fluent in a second language, the Carpatho-Russian, or Rusyn, of his immigrant parents.