BrinvellVinn Popular Lecture Series at KTH on
Frontiers in Materials Science.
To expose some of the outstanding recent developments in materials science
expected to inspire new technologies…
Welcome to the Inaugural Lecture on
Revolutionary Future Prospects for Solid State Lighting
..White LED’s dramatically reduce lighting energy consumption for mankind!
Prof. Shuji Nakamura
Department of University of California Santa Barbara
Winner of the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize
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At 14:00 pm, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008
Brinellvägen 23, Sal B2
Inst. Materialvetenskap -KTH
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Gallium nitride (GaN) is probably the most important new semiconductor material since silicon.
It owes this status to the development of bright blue, green and white GaN-based light emitting
diodes (LEDs), and these in turn owe their invention to a young Japanese researcher named Shuji
Nakamura who will tell the story of how he - who was working in the poorly resourced Nichia
Chemical industrial research laboratory in a remote part of Japan — overcame huge odds to
develop the white LED. This revolutionary technology may eventually replace all the light bulbs
and fluorescent tubes in the world, thus saving huge amounts of energy.
ALL ARE WELCOME
Lighting is one of the biggest underlying causes of greenhouse-gas emissions, causing some
1900 megatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) to be emitted by power stations each year. This is
three times the total CO2 emissions from aircraft, and is comparable to the total amount of CO2
emitted by cars. It is almost certainly easier to reduce CO2 emissions by having more efficient
lighting than by making cars and planes more efficient.
Times Square has always been an arena where the latest and greatest cutting-edge technology is
unveiled and showcased. The 2008 New Year's Eve ball in New York's Times Square celebrated
its 100th birthday by going green, after being revamped with energy-efficient lights.
The new 6ft (1.8m) ball, weighing about 1,100lbs (500kg), is covered with 9,576 light-emitting
diodes that use the same amount of electricity as 10 toasters. The LEDs on the $1.1m
(£550,000) New Year's Eve Ball is able to create a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns on each
of its 672 crystal triangular panels. As well as being smaller and more energy efficient, the 9,576
lights will substantially increase the brightness to more than 625,000 lumens.
Contact persons: K.V.Rao 790 7771 rao@kth.se; Rolf Sandström 790 8321; rsand@kth.se