Nick Holonyak Jr. and his work on visible LED to be feted at Illini Union event

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fifty years ago, Nick Holonyak Jr., then a consulting scientist at General Electric, demonstrated the first visible LED. Today, the light-emitting diode is used in everything from flashlights to spacecraft and countless applications in between.

Chancellor Phyllis Wise is inviting the campus and community to celebrate the anniversary at a ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. Oct. 9 (Tuesday) in the south lounge of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana.

Holonyak, who joined the U. of I. faculty in 1963, plans to attend the event, talk informally about his work, cut a cake adorned with 50 LED candles and answer questions. He also will sign autographs. Holonyak is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Illinois.

The first 100 people at the celebration will receive complimentary copies of “A Brilliant Idea,” a documentary about Holonyak and the LED.

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