Hiroshi Amano

Hiroshi Amano (天野 浩, Amano Hiroshi, born September 11, 1960) is a Japanese physicist and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology. For his work he was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura for "the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".

with Shinzō Abe (at the Prime Minister's Official Residence on October 22, 2014)

Amano was born in Hamamatsu, Japan, on September 11, 1960. He received his BE, ME and DE degree in 1983, 1985 and 1989, respectively, from Nagoya University. From 1988 to 1992, he was a research associate at Nagoya University. In 1992, he moved to Meijo University, where he was an assistant professor. From 1998 till 2002, He was an associate professor. In 2002, he became a professor. In 2010, he moved to the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, where he is currently a professor.

He joined Professor Isamu Akasaki's group in 1982 as an undergraduate student. Since then, he has been doing research on the growth, characterization and device applications of group III nitride semiconductors, which are well known as materials used in blue light-emitting diodes. In 1985, he developed low-temperature deposited buffer layers for the growth of group III nitride semiconductor films on a sapphire substrate, which led to the realization of group-III-nitride semiconductor based light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. In 1989, he succeeded in growing p-type GaN and fabricating a p-n-junction-type GaN-based UV/blue light-emitting diode for the first time in the world.

with Shun'ichi Yamaguchi (on November 12, 2014)

with Shuji Nakamura and Isamu Akasaki (at the Grand Hôtel on December 8, 2014)

• 1994 Fifth Optoelectronics Conference A Special Award
• 1996 IEEE/LEOS Engineering Achievement Award
• 1998 Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Award for the best review paper
• 1998 British Rank Prize
• 2001 Marubun Academic Award
• 2002 Takeda Award
• 2003 SSDM Award
• 2004 東京工業大学精密工学研究所第1回P＆Iパテント・オブ・ザ・イヤー
• 2008 日本結晶成長学会論文賞
• 2009 Fellow, Japan Society of Applied Physics
• 2009 Nistep (National Institute of Science and Technology Policy) Researcher from the Ministry of Education of Japan
• 2011 Fellow, Institute of Physics
• 2014 APEX/JJAP Editorial Contribution Award der Japan Society of Applied Physics
• 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics
• 2014 Person of Cultural Merit, the Japanese Government
• 2014 Order of Culture, the Japanese Empero
• 2015 Honorary citizen of Shizuoka prefecture
• 2015 Chu-Nichi Culture Prize
• 2015 Honorary citizen of Hamamatsu City
• 2015 Aichi Prefecture Academic Honors
• 2015 Nagoya City Academic Honors
• 2015 Honorary Fellow, Japan Sweden Society
• 2015 Special Achievement Award, Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers
• 2015 Prizes for Science and Technology (Research Category) by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
• 2015 産学官連携功労者表彰日本学術会議会長賞
• 2015 Honorary citizen of Aichi prefecture
• 2015 丸八会顕彰
• 2015 Asia Game Changer Award

• H. Amano, N. Sawaki, I. Akasaki & Y. Toyoda, Appl. Phys. Lett. 48, 353 (1986).
• H. Amano, I. Akasaki, T. Kozawa, K. Hiramatsu, N. Sawaki, K. Ikeda & Y. Ishii, J. Lumin. 40 &41, 121 (1988).
• H. Amano, M. Kito, K. Hiramatsu, & I. Akasaki, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 28, L2112 (1989).
• H. Murakami, T. Asahi, H. Amano, K. Hiramatsu, N. Sawaki & I. Akasaki, J. Crystal Growth 115, 648 (1991).
• K. Itoh, T. Kawamoto, H. Amano, K. Hiramatsu & I. Akasaki, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 30, 1924 (1991).
• I. Akasaki, H. Amano, K. Itoh, N. Koide & K. Manabe, Int. Phys. Conf. Ser. 129, 851 (1992).
• I. Akasaki, H. Amano, S. Sota, H. Sakai, T. Tanaka & M. Koike, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 34, L1517 (1995).