View source for Nick Holonyak

{{Short description|American engineer (1928–2022)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Nick Holonyak
| image             = Nick Holonyak Jr.jpg
| caption           = Holonyak in 2002
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1928|11|3}}
| birth_place       = [[Zeigler, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2022|9|18|1928|11|3}}
| death_place       = [[Urbana, Illinois]], U.S.
| nationality       = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| religion          = 
| field             = [[Electrical engineering]]
| known_for         = Invention of the GaAs<sub>0.60</sub>P<sub>0.40</sub> visible light [[diode laser]] and [[light-emitting diode|LED]]
| work_institution  = 
| thesis_title      = Effect of Surface Conditions on Characteristics of Rectifier Junctions
| thesis_url        = https://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/vf-uiu/Record/uiu_7938465
| thesis_year       = 1954
| doctoral_advisor  = [[John Bardeen]]
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[National Academy of Engineering]] (1973)
* [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (1984),
* [[IEEE Edison Medal]] (1989)
* [[National Medal of Science]] (1990)
* [[National Medal of Technology]] (2002)
* [[IEEE Medal of Honor]] (2003)
* [[Global Energy Prize]] (2003)
* [[Lemelson-MIT Prize]] (2004)
* [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]] (2008)
* [[Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering]] (2021)
}}
| education         = [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Master of Science|MS]], [[PhD]])
}}

'''Nick Holonyak Jr.''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ʌ|l|ɒ|n|j|æ|k}} {{respell|huh|LON|yak}}; November 3, 1928{{spaced ndash}}September 18, 2022) was an American engineer and educator. He is noted particularly for his 1962 invention and first demonstration of a semiconductor [[laser diode]] that emitted visible light. This device was the forerunner of the first generation of commercial [[light-emitting diode]]s (LEDs). He was then working at a [[General Electric]] research laboratory near [[Syracuse, New York]]. He left General Electric in 1963 and returned to his alma mater, the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]], where he later became John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics.<ref name=Schubert>{{cite book |title=Light-Emitting Diodes |last=Schubert |first=E. Fred |date=2018 |edition=3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=2–6 |quote=Another important step in the development of GaAs<sub>y</sub>P<sub>1–y</sub> (or simply GaAsP) LEDs occurred in 1962 when Holonyak and Bevacqua (1962) reported on the emission of coherent visible light from GaAsP p-n junctions at low temperatures (77 K) under pulsed current injection. The emission of coherent light was limited to low temperatures. At room temperature, the devices worked as LEDs and emitted incoherent visible red light. The 1962 publication is considered a milestone in the development of pn-junction LEDs made from III–V semiconductors emitting in the visible wavelength range (Holonyak, 1987).|isbn=9780986382666 |oclc= |url=https://sites.google.com/semiconductor-consulting.com/led-book-3rd-edition}}</ref><ref name="aip.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/30533|title=Nick Holonyak|date=February 19, 2015|website=www.aip.org|language=en|access-date=April 6, 2019|archive-date=September 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912022216/https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/30533|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Nick Holonyak Jr. was born in [[Zeigler, Illinois]], on November 3, 1928.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nick Holonyak |url=https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/holonyak.html |website=www.pbs.org |access-date=September 19, 2022 |archive-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527135743/http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/holonyak.html |url-status=live}}</ref> His parents were [[Rusyns|Rusyn]] immigrants.<ref name="aip.org"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://distributedmuseum.blogspot.com/2013/10/nick-holonyak-jr.html |title=Illinois Distributed Museum – Nick Holonyak, Jr. |publisher=IDM |website=IDM Illinois Distributed Museum |access-date=January 17, 2015 |archive-date=March 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317011452/http://distributedmuseum.blogspot.com/2013/10/nick-holonyak-jr.html |url-status=live}}</ref> His father worked in a [[coal mine]]. Holonyak was the first member of his family to receive any type of formal schooling.<ref name="afterglow"/>  He once worked 30 straight hours on the [[Illinois Central Railroad]] before realizing that a life of hard labor was not what he wanted and he would prefer to go to school instead. According to a ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' article in 2003, "The cheap and reliable semiconductor lasers critical to DVD players, bar code readers and scores of other devices owe their existence in some small way to the demanding workload thrust upon Downstate railroad crews decades ago."<ref name="knightridder">{{cite news |title=Nice Guys Can Finish As Geniuses at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign |last=Von |first=Jon |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-96919218.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110516180527/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-96919218.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 16, 2011 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 25, 2003 |access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref>

Holonyak earned his bachelor's (1950), master's (1951), and doctoral (1954) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Holonyak was [[John Bardeen]]'s first doctoral student there. In 1954, Holonyak went to [[Bell Telephone Laboratories]], where he worked on silicon-based electronic devices. From 1955 to 1957 he served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps.<ref name="afterglow"/><ref name=obit/>

From 1957 to 1963 he was a scientist at the General Electric Company's Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory near [[Syracuse, New York]]. Here he invented, fabricated, and demonstrated the first visible light [[laser diode]] on October 9, 1962. He grew crystals of the alloy GaAs<sub>0.60</sub>P<sub>0.40</sub>; a GaAs laser diode that worked in the infrared had recently been demonstrated by his General Electric colleague [[Robert N. Hall]]. The GaAs<sub>0.60</sub>P<sub>0.40</sub> laser diode worked at low temperatures, but the device still functioned as a light-emitting diode at room temperature.<ref name=APL62>{{cite journal |first1=Nick |last1=Holonyak Jr. |first2=S. F. |last2=Bevacqua |journal=Applied Physics Letters |title=Coherent (visible) Light Emission from Ga(As<sub>1−x</sub>P<sub>x</sub>) Junctions |date=December 1, 1962 |volume=1 |issue=4 |page=82  |doi=10.1063/1.1753706|bibcode=1962ApPhL...1...82H }}</ref> The demonstration of red light emission from the diode inspired the article "Light of Hope – or Terror" in ''[[Reader's Digest]]''. GaAsP was the material used for the first generation of commercial LEDs that came to market a few years later.<ref>{{cite news |first=Harland |last=Manchester |work=Reader's Digest |title=Light of Hope – or Terror |date=February 1963 |page=97 |quote=The latest dramatic laser discoveries, made by General Electric, may someday make the electric light obsolete. If these plans work out, the lamp of the future may be a speck of metal the size of a pencil-point which will be practically indestructible, will never burn out, and will convert at least ten times as much current into light as does today's bulb.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Nicholas_Holonyak,_Jr. |title=Nick Holonyak, Jr. – Biography |publisher=IEEE |website=IEEE Global History Network |access-date=January 17, 2015 |archive-date=February 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219033714/http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Nicholas_Holonyak,_Jr. |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nick Holonyak, Jr., six decades in pursuit of light |date=May 4, 2012 |last1=Kubetz |first1=Rick |publisher=University of Illinois |url=https://grainger.illinois.edu/news/stories/2012-05-04-nick-holonyak-jr-six-decades-pursuit-light |access-date=September 17, 2022 |archive-date=October 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021084746/https://grainger.illinois.edu/news/stories/2012-05-04-nick-holonyak-jr-six-decades-pursuit-light}}</ref><ref name="chisuntimes">{{cite news | title=U. of I.'s Holonyak out to take some of Edison's luster |last= Wolinsky |first=Howard | date =February 5, 2005 | url =http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1562141.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160225081413/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1562141.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =February 25, 2016 | work=Chicago Sun-Times | access-date = January 17, 2015}}</ref>

==University of Illinois==
In 1963, Holonyak became a professor at the University of Illinois.<ref name=Damery>{{cite web |url=http://www.ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/article/2575 |first=Jonathan |last=Damery |date=August 5, 2013 |title=Holonyak retires after 50 years in ECE |publisher=University of Illinois |access-date=January 17, 2015 |archive-date=February 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208225650/http://www.ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/article/2575 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and Communications |url=https://mntl.illinois.edu/news/10981 |title=Illinois faculty, former students honor Nick Holonyak legacy in celebration of his birthday &#124; Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab &#124; UIUC |publisher=Mntl.illinois.edu |date=December 22, 2018 |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=April 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422224323/https://mntl.illinois.edu/news/10981 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1993, he was named the [[John Bardeen]] Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/nick-holonyak |title=Nick Holonyak &#124; Lemelson |publisher=Lemelson.mit.edu |date=November 3, 1928 |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126172123/https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/nick-holonyak |url-status=live}}</ref> He investigated methods for manufacturing [[quantum dot laser]]s. He and Dr. [[Milton Feng]] ran a transistor laser research center at the university funded by $6.5&nbsp;million from the [[United States Department of Defense]] through [[DARPA]].<ref name="businessweek"/> Holonyak retired in 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/2013/08/07/led-inventor-retires-from-u/42432906007/ |title=LED inventor retires from U. of Illinois |publisher=Pjstar.com |date=August 7, 2013 |archive-date=September 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919131040/https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/2013/08/07/led-inventor-retires-from-u/42432906007/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Ten of his 60 former doctoral students have developed new uses for LED technology at [[Philips Lumileds Lighting Company]] in [[Silicon Valley]].<ref name="chisuntimes"/>

==Inventions==
[[File:GE Electronics Laboratory.jpg|thumb|right |alt=Photograph of a two-story building with a tan brick facade and green copper roofing. A few steps lead up to wide glass doors. Signage above the doors reads "ELECTRONICS LABORATORY" |Former General Electric laboratory near Syracuse, New York where Holonyak demonstrated red light from a diode laser and light-emitting diode in 1962.]]
In addition to introducing the III-V alloy LED, Holonyak held 41 [[patent]]s.  His other inventions include the red-light [[semiconductor]] laser, usually called the [[laser diode]] (used in [[CD player|CD]] and [[DVD player]]s and [[cell phone]]s) and the [[silicon controlled rectifier|shorted emitter p-n-p-n switch]] (used in light dimmers and power tools).<ref name="afterglow">{{cite news |title= After Glow |publisher=Illinois Alumni Magazine |date=May–June 2007}}</ref>

In 2006, the [[American Institute of Physics]] decided on the five most important papers in each of its journals since it was founded 75 years ago. Two of these five papers, in the journal ''[[Applied Physics Letters]]'', were co-authored by Holonyak. The first one, co-authored with S. F. Bevacqua in 1962, announced the creation of the first visible-light laser diode.<ref name=APL62 /> The second, co-authored primarily with [[Milton Feng]] in 2005, announced the creation of a [[transistor laser]] that can operate at [[room temperature]]s.  Holonyak predicted that his LEDs would replace the [[incandescent light bulb]] of [[Thomas Edison]] in the February 1963 issue of ''[[Reader's Digest]]'', and as LEDs improve in quality and efficiency they are [[Phase-out of incandescent light bulbs|gradually replacing incandescents]] as the bulb of choice.<ref name="businessweek">{{cite news |title=Nick Holonyak: He Saw The Lights |last=Port |first=Otis |url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_21/b3934030.htm |work=Business Week |date=May 23, 2005 |access-date=January 17, 2015 |archive-date=June 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627002816/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_21/b3934030.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
Holonyak was presented awards by [[George H. W. Bush]], [[George W. Bush]], Emperor [[Akihito]] of Japan, and [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref name="afterglow"/> He also received the [[Global Energy Prize|Global Energy International Prize]], the [[National Medal of Technology]], the Order of [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]] Medallion, and the 2004 [[Lemelson–MIT Prize]], also worth $500,000.<ref name="businessweek"/> Many colleagues expressed their belief that he deserved the Nobel Prize for his invention of the GaAsP laser and LED.  On this subject, Holonyak said, "It's ridiculous to think that somebody owes you something. We're lucky to be alive, when it comes down to it."<ref name="afterglow"/> In October 2014, Holonyak reversed his stance by stating "I find this one insulting" in reaction to news that the inventors of the blue LED were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, instead of his fellow LED researchers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.eeworldonline.com/led-inventor-insulted-feels-work-bypassed-by-nobel/ |title=LED Inventor Insulted, Feels Work Bypassed By Nobel |first1=David |last1=Mercer |agency=Associated Press |date=October 8, 2014 |website=Electrical Engineering News and Products |access-date=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=September 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919131044/https://www.eeworldonline.com/led-inventor-insulted-feels-work-bypassed-by-nobel/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

* 1973: Elected a member of the [[National Academy of Engineering]] for contributions to development of semiconductor controlled rectifiers, light emitting diodes and diode lasers<ref name="NAE">[https://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/MemberDirectory/29187.aspx ''Nick Holonyak'' was elected in 1973] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404081425/https://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/MemberDirectory/29187.aspx |date=April 4, 2019}} as a member of [[National Academy of Engineering]] in [[List of members of the National Academy of Engineering (Electronics)|Electronics, Communication & Information Systems Engineering]] and Materials Engineering for contributions to development of [[semiconductor controlled rectifier]]s, [[light emitting diodes]] and [[diode laser]].</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/26509221/?terms=nick%20Holonyak%20%22%20National%20Academy%20of%20Engineering%22%201973&match=1 |title=5 Jul 1975, Page 13 – ''The Edwardsville Intelligencer'' at |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=July 5, 1975 |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=September 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919131044/https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/26509221/?terms=nick%20Holonyak%20%22%20National%20Academy%20of%20Engineering%22%201973&match=1 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1984: Elected to the [[National Academy of Sciences]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/54445.html |title=NAS Member Profile of Nick Holonyak |publisher=Nasonline.org |date=June 10, 2021 |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407144708/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/54445.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1989: [[IEEE]] [[Edison Medal]] for "an outstanding career in the field of electrical engineering with contributions to major advances in the field of semiconductor materials and devices".  Holonyak's former student, [[Russell Dupuis]] from the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]], won this same award in 2007.<ref name="afterglow"/>
* 1992: [[Charles Hard Townes Award]] of the [[Optical Society of America]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/charlestownes/ |title=Charles Hard Townes Award |publisher=Osa.org |date= |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=February 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201070852/http://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/charlestownes/ |url-status=live}}</ref> 
* 1993: [[NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/industrial-application-of-science.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108010526/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/industrial-application-of-science.html|url-status=dead|title=Recipient list of NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science winners.|archivedate=January 8, 2015}}</ref>
* 1995: $500,000 [[Japan Prize]] for "outstanding contributions to research and practical applications of light emitting diodes and lasers"<ref name="businessweek"/>
* 2001: [[Frederic Ives Medal]] of the [[Optical Society of America]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/ivesquinn/ |title=Frederic Ives Medal |publisher=Osa.org |date= |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=March 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316150722/http://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/ivesquinn/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2003: [[IEEE Medal of Honor]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1570787|title=Holonyak to Receive Top IEEE Medal|date=March 1, 2003|journal=Physics Today|volume=56|issue=3|pages=92|via=physicstoday.scitation.org (Atypon)|doi=10.1063/1.1570787|bibcode=2003PhT....56T..92.|access-date=September 18, 2022|archive-date=September 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919131043/https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1570787?cookieSet=1|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* 2005: Inducted as a Laureate of [[The Lincoln Academy of Illinois]] and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the [[Governor of Illinois]] in the area of Science<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-11|title=Laureates by Year |work=The Lincoln Academy of Illinois |language=en-US|access-date=March 7, 2016|archive-date=September 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204516/http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-11|url-status=live}}</ref>
* June 2006: Two of Holonyak's papers were chosen by the editors of ''Applied Physics Letters'' as among the five most important published since the journal's founding in 1962.<ref>{{cite news |title=Illinois physicists produce two most important scientific papers |date=June 5, 2006 |work=phys.org |url=https://phys.org/news/2006-06-illinois-physicists-important-scientific-papers.html}}</ref>
* November 9, 2007: [[Historical marker]] installed on the University of Illinois campus recognizing his development of the quantum-well laser. It is located on the Bardeen Engineering Quadrangle near where the old Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory used to stand.<ref name="UIEngineeringNews200711">{{Cite web|url=https://ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/news/2574|title=Holonyak historical marker unveiled|first=Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and|last=Communications|website=ece.illinois.edu|access-date=September 18, 2022|archive-date=April 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412123317/https://ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/news/2574|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2008: Inducted into the [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]] (Announced February 14, 2008) (May 2–3, 2008 at Akron, Ohio)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.engr.uiuc.edu/news/?xId=072808800672 |title=News {{!}} Engineering at Illinois {{!}} University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=June 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314195955/https://grainger.illinois.edu/news |archive-date=March 14, 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2015: [[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] for Engineering "for the invention, development, and commercialization of materials and processes for light-emitting diodes (LEDs)"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ainsworth |first1=Susan J. |title=Pioneers Of Light-Emitting Diodes Honored With 2015 Charles Stark Draper Prize |url=https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/01/Pioneers-Light-Emitting-Diodes-Honored.html |website=cen.acs.org |publisher=[[Chemical & Engineering News]] |access-date=September 19, 2022 |date=January 7, 2015 |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108110026/https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/01/Pioneers-Light-Emitting-Diodes-Honored.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2015: Elected OSA Honorary Member, "for his numerous technology innovations advancing solid state lighting, the Internet, high-performance computing, visible LEDs and quantum well diode lasers."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nick Holonyak Jr., Named Honorary Member of The Optical Society {{!}} Optica |url=https://www.optica.org/about/newsroom/news_releases/2016/nick_holonyak_jr_named_honorary_member_of_the_optical_society/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=www.optica.org}}</ref>
* September 2018: Village of [[Glen Carbon, Illinois]], placed an honorary street sign on behalf of Holonyak, a former resident<ref>{{cite web |last=Sommerhof |first=John |url=https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Glen-Carbon-names-first-honorary-street-13058860.php |title=Glen Carbon names first honorary street designation |publisher=Thetelegraph.com |date=July 9, 2018 |accessdate=September 18, 2022 |archive-date=July 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709083726/https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Glen-Carbon-names-first-honorary-street-13058860.php |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2021: [[Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering]] "for the creation and development of LED lighting, which forms the basis of all solid-state lighting technology". He shares the prize with his former students [[M. George Craford]] and [[Russell D. Dupuis]], and [[Isamu Akasaki]] and [[Shuji Nakamura]], inventors of the Blue LED.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Touchstone |first1=Liz Ahlberg |title=Nick Holonyak Jr., pioneer of LED lighting, awarded Queen Elizabeth Prize |url=https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/943749387 |website=news.illinois.edu |date=February 2, 2021 |access-date=February 8, 2021 |archive-date=February 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207182526/https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/943749387 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Holonyak and his wife, Katherine, were married for over 60 years. He died on September 18, 2022, in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 93.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|title=Nick Holonyak Jr., pioneer of LED lighting, dies|last=Ahlberg Touchstone|first=Liz|url=https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/1920044460 |date=September 18, 2022|publisher=University of Illinois News Bureau|access-date=September 18, 2022|archive-date=September 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919031625/https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/1920044460|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Schmitt |first=Laura |year=2012 |title=The Bright Stuff: The LED and Nick Holonyak's Fantastic Trail of Innovation |location=Champaign, Ill. |publisher=University of Illinois Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory |isbn=9780615681009 |oclc=818331240}}
*{{cite web |first1=Nick |last1=Holonyak |first2=Babak |last2=Ashrafi |date=March 23, 2005 |url= https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/30533  |title=Oral history interview transcript with Nick Holonyak March 23, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924005233/http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/30533.html |archive-date=2008-09-24 |url-status=live |publisher=American Institute of Physics}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://ethw.org/Nick_Holonyak,_Jr. Nick Holonyak Jr.] on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928062101/http://www.technology.gov/Medal/2002/bios/Nick_Holonyak-Jr.pdf#search='Nick%20Holonyak%20bardeen' Nick Holonyak Jr. US National Medal of Technology], 2002.

{{IEEE Edison Medal 1976-2000}}
{{IEEE Medal of Honor Laureates 2001-2025}}
{{Charles Stark Draper Prize}}
{{Japan Prize}}
{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|engineering}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holonyak, Nick}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:21st-century American inventors]]
[[Category:American people of Rusyn descent]]
[[Category:Draper Prize winners]]
[[Category:Electrical engineering academics]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Grainger College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:IEEE Edison Medal recipients]]
[[Category:IEEE Medal of Honor recipients]]
[[Category:Laser researchers]]
[[Category:Lemelson–MIT Prize]]
[[Category:Light-emitting diode pioneers]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Illinois]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:National Medal of Technology recipients]]
[[Category:American optical engineers]]
[[Category:People from Zeigler, Illinois]]
[[Category:Semiconductor physicists]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty]]
[[Category:Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates]]
[[Category:Fellows of Optica (society)]]