As you move your computer mouse around the screen or scroll on your phone to read these words, you’re using technology Russell Dupuis helped enable. Same for when you turn on an LED light bulb or scan groceries at the self-checkout.
The underlying technologies for those common devices are compound semiconductors manufactured using techniques Dupuis first demonstrated nearly 50 years ago. His work made it possible to mass produce and commercialize these semiconductors for LEDs, lasers, solar cells, and more.
Now his contributions have been recognized with the Japan Prize, one of a few internationally recognized awards regarded by much of the scientific community as second only to the Nobel Prize.
“Professor Russell Dupuis’ breakthrough led to the commercialization of compound semiconductor production. It has become the foundation upon which our modern information society is built,” the Japan Prize Foundation wrote in announcing Dupuis’ selection.