Nobel laureate who lit up the world has idea for infinite energy

Shuji Nakamura, the Nobel laureate renowned for inventing light-emitting diodes (LEDs), is now pursuing a groundbreaking project to provide the world with limitless clean energy. Nakamura announced his intention to build a power plant utilizing a new type of high-pulse laser for nuclear fusion, a process he believes will generate "unlimited" supplies of efficient, clean energy. Unlike traditional nuclear power, fusion does not involve uranium or the risk of meltdowns. Nakamura, a professor of materials and engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), expressed his enthusiasm for this ambitious endeavor, stating that the potentials are "unlimited" if successful. At 72, Nakamura remains driven, finding retirement "boring." His journey to this point was marked by early struggles and skepticism. Before his Nobel recognition, Nakamura faced ridicule as an engineer known for laboratory explosions and low productivity while working for the Japanese chemical company Nichia. With a small research team, he developed few products that sold poorly, leading colleagues to advise him to quit. He even took on a night watchman role to continue his research. This adversity fueled his determination to prove his critics wrong. Growing up in a fishing village, Nakamura developed a deep appreciation for nature and the color blue, which inspired his quest to "decode" blue LEDs. Despite significant investment from major corporations like IBM and Sony over decades, the blue LED remained elusive due to its shorter wavelength and higher energy requirements. In a last-ditch effort to save his job, Nakamura secured a $3 million budget from Nichia's founder, Nobuo Ogawa, to pursue LED development in 1988, a substantial sum at the time.