Photonics wins again!

For the second time in as many days, photonics has been central to a Nobel Prize.

On October 7 2014, the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".

The principle for light-emitting diodes LED (upper left) and an example of a blue LED lamp. #nobelprize2014 #Physics pic.twitter.com/cxzXyP7zoj

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) 7 oktober 2014

Just one day later, on October 8 2014, William Moerner, Stefan Hell, and Eric Betzig are the recipients of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy".

#nobelprize2014 #Chemstry The principle of single-molecule microscopy: pic.twitter.com/hbDhsKOTaK

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) 8 oktober 2014

With the 2015 International Year of Light, proclaimed by UNESCO, in prospect, these 2 Nobel Prizes again show the major importance of photonics in everyday life.