英女王工学賞に赤崎勇、中村修二両氏　ＬＥＤ開発・発展を評価

　工学分野で優れた業績を挙げた個人や団体に贈られる「エリザベス女王工学賞」の受賞者が２日発表され、発光ダイオード（ＬＥＤ）の開発と発展に尽力したとして、赤崎勇氏と中村修二氏ら５人が選ばれた。同賞の主催者がホームページ上で明らかにした。
　赤崎、中村両氏は２０１４年にノーベル物理学賞を受賞している。主催者は発表文で、両氏の業績について「コンピューターの画面や持ち運び可能なレーザーポインター、自動車のヘッドライトなど至る所で使用され、われわれの世界の照らし方を変えた」と指摘した。
　同賞は工学分野におけるノーベル賞を目標として設立。１７年には、デジタルカメラの画像鮮明化に貢献したとして寺西信一氏が日本人で初めて選ばれた。（2021/02/03-12:37）

Japanese-born engineers Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura, as well as three others, were picked as recipients of the 2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for the creation and development of light-emitting diode lighting, the organizer of the award has announced.
   Explaining that LED lighting forms the basis of all solid state lighting technology, the organizer said in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday: "Solid state lighting technology has changed how we illuminate our world. It can be found everywhere from digital displays and computer screens to handheld laser pointers, automobile headlights and traffic lights."
   Akasaki and Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of efficient blue LEDs which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. Nakamura currently has U.S. citizenship.
   The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is awarded biennially to individuals or organizations that have achieved groundbreaking engineering innovations. Nobukazu Teranishi won the prize in 2017 to become the first Japanese to do so, for his contribution to the improvement of digital imaging.