diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'source/blog/2014-11-06-2014-nobel-prize-in-physics-led-lights-seriously.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | source/blog/2014-11-06-2014-nobel-prize-in-physics-led-lights-seriously.md | 3 |
1 files changed, 2 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/source/blog/2014-11-06-2014-nobel-prize-in-physics-led-lights-seriously.md b/source/blog/2014-11-06-2014-nobel-prize-in-physics-led-lights-seriously.md index 45550498..9bdecacd 100644 --- a/source/blog/2014-11-06-2014-nobel-prize-in-physics-led-lights-seriously.md +++ b/source/blog/2014-11-06-2014-nobel-prize-in-physics-led-lights-seriously.md @@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ title: "2014 Nobel Prize in Physics — LED lights, seriously?" date: 2014-11-06T11:08:45-0800 date_display: November 6, 2014 ---- +... + For some reason, I only learned about this year’s laureates today, through [the reference frame](http://motls.blogspot.com/2014/11/ex-employer-wont-meet-blue-led-nobel.html). The prize goes to the inventors of the LED. Not exciting at all, so I don’t care if I’m ever informed. (Lubos has a good point on why applied physics — well, let’s even widen the concept of applied physics a bit — should not surprise anyone when they appear in a Nobel Prize announcement: “After all, Alfred Nobel might have very well considered his dynamite to be a discovery in physics, too.”) The Nobel Prize Physics Awards has been rather amusing in recent years. Partly due to controversy on the theoretical front and no breakthrough on the experimental front, I guess. (The discovery of Higgs was a breakthrough to some extent, but it was totally expected; little physics beyond SM at LHC before LS1 is sad. Since it was totally expected, the award went to theorists — some experimentalists might not be too thrilled.) Just look at the recent list: 2010, graphene (shouldn’t that be chemistry? if material science can be part of physics, then chemistry must surely encompass it, too); 2009, CCD sensor (whatever that means, maybe that’s important); 2008, fibers (okay, I love fast Internet connections). The list actually goes all the way down to early 20th century, but it’s much denser in recent decades. Now one more: 2014, LED. |