Semiconductor Revolution

Abstract: The lecture reviews two previous revolutions in which semiconductor-based technologies supplanted vacuum-tube technologies (electronics and displays) and then focuses on the third and upcoming revolution (illumination). Topics cover the basics of light-emitting diode operation; a 200-year history of lighting technology; the importance of white light and color vision to the evolutionary biology of trilobites, birds, mammals and primates; ways in which white light can be created from colored light; ways in which light-emitting diodes are currently being used in colored-light applications; and speculations on possible future ways in which light-emitting diodes might be used in white-light applications.