An American and two Japanese scientists have won the Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing a new energy-efficient light source, leading to the creation of modern LED light bulbs. <br /><br />Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan, and Japanese-born US citizen Shuji Nakamura, won the prize for developing the blue light-emitting diode (LED) – the piece that now allows manufacturers to produce white-light lamps.<br /><br />The arrival of such lamps is changing the way homes and workplaces are lit, offering a longer-lasting and more efficient alternative to the incandescent bulbs pioneered by Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison at the end of the 19th century.<br /><br />In addition to lighting buildings, LED bulbs are transforming lamps in cars and the technology is also used as a light source in smartphones and computer screens.
