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The effect that some people's work eventually has on everyone's life can be just amazing. In this case it enabled LED lighting for everyone. Transistors (Barde
by _Microft 6y ago
The effect that some people's work eventually has on everyone's life can be just amazing.
In this case it enabled LED lighting for everyone. Transistors (Bardeen, Shockley), lasers or artificial fertilizer (Haber, Bosch) also come into mind.
- ampdepolymerase 6y agoA more important question is, how well were they compensated? Most of the value are not captured by the original inventors.
- netrus 6y agoTo be fair, to a certain degree that's part of the deal in academia. Tenure is like an reverse insurance, everyone gets a salary, even if only few will be able to make significant contributions. And that's okay, because a lot of luck is involved in individual success in academia.
- neolog 6y agoWhat do you mean by original inventor?
- outworlder 6y agoCompany's gross went from 200 million USD to 800 million USD. He got $180. After a lawsuit, they settled for around 8 million. Got a Nobel prize too.
- sneak 6y agoSimilar story around AIDS-denier Kary Mullis, who invented PCR. I think his employer sold the patent for >$1B. 1993 Nobel in chemistry. I remember reading about him in Omni magazine.
- dls2016 6y agoRegarding the lawsuit, I believe you’re thinking of Nakamura. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura
- s0rce 6y agoThe Hall–Héroult process for electrolytic aluminum refining is pretty impactful. Many polymer synthesis processes are also very impactful day to day, starting with Bakelite (less relevant now).
- samatman 6y agoMy personal favorite here is John B. Goodenough for lithium-ion battery chemistry. What an amazing name!
- kragen 6y agoAgreed. Also, Norman Borlaug (the Green Revolution which prevented, or at least postponed, the famine we'd have been living in for 40 years now, thus saving a billion lives) and Stanislav Petrov (who refused to raise the alarm in 01983 that would have started a global thermonuclear war, thus saving three billion lives).
- mhh__ 6y agoPeter Mansfield also comes to mind (MRI).
- dehrmann 6y agoBlue LEDs have enabled incredible power savings by making LEDs viable for lighting rooms and screens.