Nick Holonyak Jr. (born November 3, 1928) created the first light-emitting diode in 1962 while working as a consulting scientist at a General Electric Company laboratory in Syracuse, New York.

In 1963 he joined John Bardeen at the University of Illinois and worked on quantum wells and quantum-well lasers .

As of 2003 he is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is investigating methods for manufacturing quantum dot lasers.

In 2003 he was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor.

Reference

• Red Hot; Tekla S. Perry; IEEE Spectrum Online; 30 May 2003.