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The 2014 Nobel laureate, Isamu Akasaki, sadly passed away in April at the age of 92. He was highly regarded for his work on the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes and research into new semiconductor materials.
Webb’s work helped fundamentally reshape basic research and advanced manufacturing in the generation and application of photonics across disciplines, from fundamental and applied physics to the biosciences.
When the nanophotonics research community finally gets back to in-person conferences, the rooms will have empty chairs on the first row. The chairs will be reserved for Professor Mark I. Stockman.
Radiation pressure exerted by light was a lifelong passion for Arthur Ashkin. He foresaw that light pressure could do useful work and invented the optical tweezers that can trap microscopic objects, from small ‘living things’ down to individual atoms.
