Go ahead, slap some RGB on your ultimate gaming PC build (opens in new tab), but have you ever given a second thought to the man behind those bright lights? It is considered an unsung hero. This is his story.
With space exploration on the back of his mind, Crafoord began his tech journey in the 50s, before LEDs were invented (thanks for the info) IEEE spectrum (opens in new tab)).
Early on, a family friend and children’s science author Illa Podendorf (opens in new tab) began feeding Crafoord’s curious mind with all sorts of texts. Apparently, these piqued his curiosity. Because the kid eventually joined the American Society of Variable Star Observers, where building rockets became a common part of his repertoire.
a Amazing Next, a basic introduction to the technology.
Alongside rockets, he assembled all sorts of contraptions and more chemical-based experiments. On one occasion, an uncontained explosive exploit even broke a home lab window.
Studied Physics and lectured at University of Iowa James Van Allen (opens in new tab) It inspired Crafoord to continue in the field of space science, but his interest in space faded during the summer after completing his bachelor’s degree, and his journey soon shifted along the path of semiconductors. Van Allen introduced Craford to the Solid State Physics program at the University of Illinois, where he received his master’s and doctoral degrees.
Here Craford ran into the original LED designer, Nick Holonyak. Holonyak put on a mesmerizing show by dropping a small red LED into his dewar with a glass of liquid nitrogen. Crafoord says, “I lit the entire flask with a bright red light.” It was this exhibition that put an end to several years of work on the tunneling effect in Josephson junctions, and Holonyak took him under his wing.
Crafoord’s research continued in the basement of the Materials Research Building. This was the perfect dark spot to play around with the high voltage setup for lighting experiments, using gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) and liquid nitrogen grown in Holoniak’s lab.
What they were trying to understand was why applying pressure to the GaAsP sample increased its brightness by “several orders of magnitude”. He and Greg Stillman research (opens in new tab) (PDF warning), we found that the resistance decreased when light hit the sample and remained low as long as the temperature lasted (this effect is known as sustained photoconductivity), but this is due to the sulfur occurred only in samples containing tellurium, but not in doped samples.
At first, they struggled to see a practical application for their discovery, dropping it off their priority list until years later, when some researchers at Bell Labs dug it up and renamed the phenomenon the DX Center. From there, a series of experiments emerged across the board, with many researchers picking it up.
After earning his PhD, Craford continued to focus on gallium arsenide phosphide research at Monsanto, but was a researcher at Bell Laboratories (which offered him a job after his PhD ended). pushed Crafoord to the top of the Institute. RGB path filled with color.
By doping gallium phosphide with Zn-O, Craford and his team created bright orange, green, and yellow LEDs that paved the way for the full spectrum of RGB found in the best RGB LED strips. It was a success for Bell Lab. (opens in new tab) Today’s.
“Wow, that’s great, but the customer is very happy with the red LED. Anyone want other colors?”
Representative LED brand at the time
According to Craford, the initial reaction to these colorful LEDs was, “Wow, that’s great, but our customers are very happy with the red LEDs. Who needs other colors?” ?” After all, we need them. Personally, I can’t live without RGB, and we all know that RGB improves frame rates. So I have a lot to thank Crafoord for.
M. George Crafoord spent a good part of his life researching LEDs, but Nick Holoniak talks about how humble he is. Apparently, he “doesn’t advertise himself and sometimes this bugs me about George.” “I wish he was more positive about the fact that he accomplished something,” said Holonyak.
“When George presented his work, he prefixed his name with the name of the person who grew the crystal and put things together,” he states. Still, he explains, “Every yellow light-emitting diode you see is George’s work.”
So whenever you’re lovingly gazing at your RGB-powered masterpiece, grab a gaming headset (opens in new tab)or your shimmering gaming keyboard (opens in new tab), remember Crafoord. An outdoorsman and gym enthusiast who dabbles in everything from his jumps to canoeing on whitewater, he has climbed the grand his Tetons and his work has climbed all the peripherals in sight. I was.
What a man
