Editor’s comment: All hail the inventors! We love a ‘Eureka!’ moment…

EW editor, Debbie Eales.

Three Japanese professors had a real lightbulb moment when they invented the first blue LEDS back in the early 1990s, paving the way for a new generation of bright, energy-efficient white lamps, as well as colour LED screens. And now, the ingenious profs have been rewarded with the Nobel Prize for Physics.

This was a case where three boffins put their heads together and cracked something that many big companies had been aspiring to do for years, without success.

Where would we be without such ingenuity? I am always fascinated to hear the stories behind such inventions. Invariably, the ‘Eureka!’ moment occurs in the pub – even in the bath – or it starts out as a diagram on the back of a napkin.

In the case of inventor, Trevor Bayliss, the idea of a wind-up radio came to him as he watched a TV documentary about AIDs in Africa, which stated that education via radio broadcasts could help halt its spread.

Before the programme finished, he’d nipped out to the shed and assembled the first prototype wind-up radio. The original included a small transistor radio, an electric motor from a toy car, and the clockwork mechanism from a music box! Necessity being the mother of invention.

Hot on the heels of the Nobel prize announcement comes news of another breakthrough, being described as the “Holy Grail” of the LED world – a low-energy bulb that uses a new type of chip and multiple phosphor conversion. They are said to use 85% less energy and will last up to nine years, according to inventor, Huddersfield-based Well-Lit, which was only founded last year.

Isn’t it good to know that innovation is still alive and kicking in garden sheds, workshops and businesses up and down the country!

Inventors – we salute you!

Debbie Eales