Hiroshi Amano 天野 浩 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 11, 1960 |
| Alma mater | Nagoya University |
| Known for | Blue and white LEDs |
| Awards | Nobel Prize in Physics (2014) Person of Cultural Merit (2014) Order of Culture (2014) Foreign Member of National Academy of Engineering (2016) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Nagoya University |
| Doctoral advisor | Isamu Akasaki |
Hiroshi Amano (天野 浩, Amano Hiroshi, born September 11, 1960) is a Japanese physicist, engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology. For his work he was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura for "the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".[2]
Amano was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 for the development of p-type gallium nitride (GaN) doping, enabling blue semiconductor LEDs.
Amano was born in Hamamatsu, Japan, on September 11, 1960. He received his BE, ME and DE degree in 1983, 1985 and 1989, respectively, from Nagoya University.
During elementary school days, he played soccer as a goalkeeper and softball as a catcher. He was also passionate about amateur radio and despite hating studying, he was good at mathematics. Upon entering high school, he began taking his studies seriously and became a top student by studying every day late into the night.
From 1988 to 1992, he was a research associate at Nagoya University. In 1992, he moved to Meijo University, where he was an assistant professor. From 1998 to 2002, He was an associate professor. In 2002, he became a professor. In 2010, he moved to the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, where he is currently a professor.
He joined Professor Isamu Akasaki's group in 1982 as an undergraduate student. Since then, he has been doing research on the growth, characterization and device applications of group III nitride semiconductors, which are well known as materials used in blue light-emitting diodes today. In 1985, he developed low-temperature deposited buffer layers for the growth of group III nitride semiconductor films on a sapphire substrate, which led to the realization of group-III-nitride semiconductor based light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. In 1989, he succeeded in growing p-type GaN and fabricating a p-n-junction-type GaN-based UV/blue light-emitting diode for the first time in the world.
Known to be keen on research, Amano's laboratory was always lit late at night, such as weekdays, holidays, New Year's Day, and was called "no night castle".[3] According to his students in the laboratory, Amano has an optimistic and temperate personality, and is never angry.[4][5]
Amano's wife is a Japanese lecturer at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.[9]
