Some LED basic history
Monsanto Corporation was the first company to mass-produce red LEDs for the industry, mostly as replacement lights for indicators and seven-segment displays. The first time that LEDs actually did displace incandescent lamps was in vehicle brake lights, signal lights, and traffic lights – back in 1987!
- Shuji Nakamura, the inventor of the blue LED, back in 1994.
- Shuji Nakamura never signed a non-disclosure for Nichia, and in 2001 he sued for more than half a million pounds. The Japanese courts awarded him So the inventor of the blue LED got 6.5 million pounds for his invention! More money than any other Japanese company ever had to pay in court.
- Made more money than Scrooge McDuck’s swimming pool!
- Nick Holonyak, Jr. is the father of the visible light LED. Nick invented the LED while working for General Electric in 1962. This “new thing” that’s come onto the retail market over the last 5 years has been around since the mid-1960s!
