Happy 50th Birthday to the Humble LED

[engine]

This is a product which is now far more than just a simple indicator light source, as when it was first developed.

We're starting to see LEDs in so many places, and now they are helping save energy in our homes and save lives in vehicle use and medical applications.

It's not so humble now.

[bbc.co.uk...]

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

It's amazing how what appears to be a simple wee device like this can develop into something that we could not now live without.

[lucy24]

Takes me back to my first digital clock radio. Made when LEDs and LCDs were just coming into use.* Manufacturers weren't quite sure of it yet, so mine was the old kind, with a spool of physically printed numbers physically rotating around a physical axle. Them was the days.


* And nobody was quite sure which was which. For that matter, it's not all that long since I heard someone on TV say "LSD display". It was not what she meant.

[SevenCubed]

For that matter, it's not all that long since I heard someone on TV say "LSD display".

A Freudian slip perhaps :)

[johnhh]

Takes me back to my first digital clock radio

I think those used to go click when the number changed. When I was a boy ... the Sinclair digital watch !

Great invention the LED, if only I had 0.00001 cent per unit royalties !

[Automan Empire]

Yes, I remember my grandpa proudly showing off his LED digital watch in the '70s, with a magnifying lens over each digit in the display. The enduring image I remember is him holding it up to his face and squinting to see it in sunlight.

LEDs have really come a long way in the last few years. I've upgraded my vehicle lights and love the color. Now household LED lighting is sliding down the price/lumen curve and will supplant CFLs before long.

Happy Birthday, LED!