The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 has been awarded to three Japanese scientists for their invention of blue LEDs, reports lighting.co.uk.

Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura will share prize money of eight million kronor (£0.7 million).

In the early 1990s, red and green diodes had been around for a long time but without blue light, white lamps could not be created. Despite considerable efforts, both in the scientific community and in industry, the blue LED had remained a challenge for three decades.

When scientists Akasaki, Amano and Nakamura produced bright blue light beams from their semi-conductors, they triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology.

Read more on this story at lighting.co.uk