Professor Shuji Nakamura

Shuji Nakamura was born in Ikata, Japan, in 1954 and shares the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics with his fellow laurate Akasaki. Nakamura gained Bachelors and Masters degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Tokushima and joined the chemical and electronics company Nichia in 1979, where he later conducted his Nobel-Prize winning work. In 1988, he spent a year at the University of Florida as a visiting research associate.

Nakamura developed a two-flow MOCVD system for gallium nitride growth while at Nichia and commercialised it in 1993. In 1994 he received his doctorate in electrical engineering and in 1999 he joined the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a professor. He developed the first MOVCD growth of group III-nitride-based blue-green LEDs and violet laser diodes. His work led directly to the creation of efficient lighting and displays, white LEDs, and blue laser diodes used in Blu-ray and high definition DVDs.