我的思考，我的光

by Shuji Nakamura, 中村修二, 林慧雯 (Translator)

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2001

Reviews

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is the 2014 Nobel Laureate in Physics for his invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LED) which made possible bright and energy-saving white light sources. Along with two other colleagues, he successfully created highly efficient and environmentally friendly blue LEDs using the difficult-to-handle semiconductor gallium nitride. This book describes the various struggles and mental hardships he went through while toiling tirelessly and thanklessly pretty much on his own in a small, lesser-known chemical manufacturer in rural Shikoku, Japan over a decade before he found the groundbreaking method of creating commercially viable blue LED. By all measures, his success was improbable and a long-shot, as he had zero access to neither big R&D budgets, the most advanced equipments, nor a vast network of distinguished researchers.

Besides his incredible perseverance and unbreakable resolve, the single most important takeaways from his story is probably the value of taking a path not taken and sticking to it till the end despite criticism. What looked like his disadvantages turned out to be one of the main reasons he discovered what had eluded many other researchers at major institutions; he discarded conventional theoretical frameworks, rolled up his sleeves to handcraft and weld his own experimental equipments, went back to the drawing board, and beat his own path in search of new methods. After all, innovation is often hidden where most people don't bother to question and examine with a fresh pair of eyes.