这几天,诺贝尔奖又成了这一年科研人员万众瞩目的时候了,而诺贝尔物理奖更是重中之重,今年诺贝尔物理奖授予了日本的科学家Isamu Akasaki(赤崎勇), Hiroshi Amano (天野浩)和 Shuji Nakamura(中村修二),其主要工作是成功研制出一种有效的、环境友好的光源---蓝光发光二极管(Staffan Normark (2nd L), permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announces the winners of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, Oct. 7, 2014. Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and Japanese-born U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for their invention of blue light-emitting diodes, a new energy efficient and environmentally friendly light source, the award-giving body announced Tuesday.)。有很多人觉得意外,认为它简单,不应该被授予诺奖,也就有了一些所谓的不公平和抱怨之声。
然而事实是,这的确是一次继爱迪生发明的灯泡之后,在凝聚态固体物理上一次划时代的光革命。就如同人类从未停止对火,对电,以至于到对光的追求、应用和研究始终没有停下脚步一样,人类始终对光有一种热切的渴望和向往。因为,光代表了生命,光代表了希望。而其中半导体上的蓝光更由于其代表了继红光、绿光二极管之后近三十年没有解决的问题,从此有了突破性的进展,以至于今天的实用化了。(The first LEDs were studied and constructed during the 1950s and 1960s in several laboratories. They emitted light at different wavelengths, from the infrared to the green. However, emitting blue light proved to be a difficult task, which took three more decades to achieve. )(The statement said, "when the three scientists produced bright blue light beams from their semi-conductors in the early 1990s, they triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology. Red and green diodes had been around for a long time but without blue light, white lamps could not be created. Despite considerable efforts, both in the scientific community and in industry, the blue LED had remained a challenge for three decades.")。
发表的意义不言而喻。这不由得让人们想起了学界的那句名言:publish, or perish! 不发表,便死亡!真是这个道理。如果不发表,那么谁知道你的工作?谁会承认你的工作。只有做出了真东西,那才是实打实的真货,才有显示度;而只有印刷到了纸上的文字,那才是永远改变不了的档案、那才是永远抹不掉的印迹和功勋。
一个造福于民的东西,能给人们带来福音的东西就是好东西。若诺贝尔先生健在,他一定会举双手赞成的。(Commenting on this year's invention, Prof. Olle Inganas from the Nobel Committee of Physics said it was "benefiting of the mankind" and thus in accordance with Alfred Nobel's will.)。