page_title: Isamu Akasaki
section_title: Scientific and academic
hierarchical_section_title: Isamu Akasaki / Honors and awards / Scientific and academic
caption_attribution_description: Isamu Akasaki, Director of the Research Center for Nitride Semiconductor Core Technologies, Meijo University, Hiroshi Amano, Director of Akasaki Research Center, Nagoya University, and Shuji Nakamura, Research Director for the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, attended the press conference at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm Municipality, Stockholm County on December 8, 2014.
context_page_description: Isamu Akasaki is a Japanese engineer and physicist, specializing in the field of semiconductor technology and Nobel Prize laureate, best known for inventing the bright gallium nitride p-n junction blue LED in 1989 and subsequently the high-brightness GaN blue LED as well.
  For this and other achievements, Akasaki was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology in 2009, and the IEEE Edison Medal in 2011. He was also awarded the 2014 Nobel prize in Physics, together with Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".
context_section_description: 1989 – Japanese Association for Crystal Growth (JACG) Award
  1991 – Chu-Nichi Culture Prize
  1994 – Technological Contribution Award, Japanese Association for Crystal Growth in commemoration of its 20th anniversary
  1995 – Heinrich Welker Gold Medal, the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors
  1996 – Engineering Achievement Award, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers / Lasers Electro-Optics Society
  1998 – Inoue Harushige Award, Japan Science and Technology Agency
  1998 – C&C Prize, the Nippon Electric Company Corporation
  1998 – Laudise Prize, the International Organization for Crystal Growth
  1998 – Jack A. Morton Award, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  1998 – Rank Prize, the Rank Prize Foundation
  1999 – Fellow, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  1999 – Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology, the Electrochemical Society
  1999 – Honoris Causa Doctorate, the University of Montpellier II
  1999 – Toray Science and Technology Prize, Toray Science Foundation
  2001 – Asahi Prize, the Asahi Shinbun Cultural Foundation
  2001 – Honoris Causa Doctorate, Linkoping University
  2002 – Outstanding Achievement Award, the Japan Society of Applied Physics
  2002 – Fujihara Award, the Fujihara Foundation of Science
  2002 – Takeda Award, the Takeda Foundation
  2003 – President's Award, the Science Council of Japan (SCJ)
  2003 – Solid State Devices & Materials (SSDM) Award
  2004 – Tokai TV Culture Prize
  2004 – University Professor, Nagoya University
  2006 – John Bardeen Award, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
  2006 – Outstanding Achievement Award, the Japanese Association for Crystal Growth
  2007 – Honorable Lifetime Achievement Award, the 162nd Research Committee on  Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Photonic and Electronic Devices, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
  2008 – Foreign Associate, the US National Academy of Engineering
  2009 – Kyoto Prize Advanced Technology, the Inamori Foundation
  2010 – Lifetime Professor, Meijo University
  2011 – Edison Medal, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  2011 – Special Award for Intellectual Property Activities, the Japan Science and Technology Agency
  2011 – Minami-Nippon Culture Prize-Honorable Prize
  2014 – Nobel Prize in Physics together with prof. Hiroshi Amano and prof. Shuji Nakamura
  2015 – Charles Stark Draper Prize
caption: with Shuji Nakamura and Hiroshi Amano (at the Grand Hôtel on December 8, 2014)
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4000", "Image ImageLength": "3000", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot G16", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 12.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:12:10 15:55:58", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "312", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1278", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8877", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity and Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:12:08 13:43:29", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:12:08 13:43:29", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "73/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "73/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "1559/125", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "210", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "4000", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3000", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1108", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4000000/291", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1000000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": ""}