From Transistors to Lasers and Light-Emitting Diodes

This article is based on the 2004 Von Hippel Award address by Nick Holonyak Jr. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Holonyak received the award for “his many contributions to research and development in the field of semiconductors, not least for the first development of semiconductor lasers in the useful visible portion of the optical spectrum.” The talk was presented on Holonyak’s behalf by Russell Dupuis on December 1, 2004, at the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting in Boston.