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It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

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Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#131

Post by disillusioned »

mb_72 wrote: post #116

I remember when blue LEDs started appearing in guitar FX pedals just out of novelty,resulting in a pedals becoming harder to use as when the pedal was on the brightness meant visibility of the controls was reduced. On pedals I made I always used fine sandpaper to increase the diffusion of each LED, and the result was significantly better. Early blue LEDs,especially, seemed to have a very narrow projection angle.

They sell LED dimming (and blackout) stickers on Amazon, and those things have been a lifesaver for me. My new USB-C charging block is brighter than the sun and the LED is functionally useless, so it's been masked with the blackout version of the stickers, but my Dyson fan which has a blue power LED (which turns to red when it's on heat mode) and BRIGHT WHITE LED temperature readout in heat mode has gotten the dimming treatment. Nice because you can still see the light, but 80% less bright, so I can sleep at night.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#132

Post by otherme123 »

Jare wrote: post #120
angarg12 wrote: post #102

There is something oddly humbling and inspiring about this story. The scientist thanklessly slaved away for a year and half before even producing the first breakthrough. It must require an immense amount of perseverance to do so. It also reminds me to the craft mentality and patience of Jiro dreams of sushi. Very refreshing when contrasted with western mentality, where people can't wait to get promoted fast enough.

You're comparing a whole billion people to someone who went on to earn a Nobel, it's a little unfair. There's plenty of people in the West (and East, and South and North) with massive, even unhealthy grit and determination, and plenty of people in Japan that just conform to the standard work culture of the country.

Also survivor bias at 11. I bet there are currently thousands, all around the world, devoting their lives to something that would not yield any significant result. Like the nuclear fussion menctioned in the video.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#133

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #48

I thought this was a really well-produced video! It's difficult to communicate science to the public in an accessible way at the right level, and I think Derek does a commendable job. I really liked the LED explanation at the 4:00 mark. Can anyone who is familiar with semiconductor physics opine on how well this explanation models the reality?

I liked it, though it bugs me a little when people equate infrared and heat. Infrared is light. Light can heat things, and hot things can glow, but "infrared is heat" isn't exactly right.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#134

Post by Gibbon1 »

jfjjfjfjj wrote: post #128

This video reminded me of an interview I did a few years back. There was an interesting robotics startup in Tokyo that I was talking to and they ended up rejecting me because I have an MS and another candidate had a PhD. The job paid $65K with very little equity and very few benefits. A few weeks later I got a job in SF that paid total comp >$250K plus tons of benefits. Japanese engineering compensation is quite poor…

That's what I've seen, engineers working 50-60 hour weeks like it's gaming company or a faang. Except it's Hitachi. Bonus a lot of these guys are fluent in English. In the bay area they could make double for half the hours.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#136

Post by ddingus »

That was a great story! We have the blue ones because one guy was willing to put it all on the line to get it done.

Amazing so much hangs on just one of us sometimes.

We also have it because the research scientist acquired real electromechanical skill. Most of the time those skills are not there and my mind is on fire thinking about what could be done, and done faster with that kind of know how more broadly distributed.

Not having that PhD sucked mostly due to peers not valuing other skills.

I know a chemistry professor who values these things. I met him while setting some polymer equipment up. (Limiting details here to keep from outing people who may well read here. (Hello, from you know who in Oregon!))

Basically, this prof has a parts and equipment depot. Anytime there is an opportunity to score inexpensive, relevant gear, they do it.

Students often build the gear they need. This may not be science grade, but it is almost always enough to validate a research path, or some other plan, including procurement or access to science grade equipment later on.

In my discussions, those students live the program and know the value they are getting.

Essentially, it is the same high value our Blue LED making friend has seen; namely, more direct agency and control with far fewer, maybe even zero dependencies navigate.

They can explore even higher risk areas of research and then upon seeing potential outcomes worth publishing, can put their stuff to work how they need, when they need.

A quick look back through history shows us a whole lot of the hard won scientific understanding we value and depend on, engineer with, came to us via people who could make things as well as think and observe. Add computation to that list as well.

Academia could use a whole lot more of this as could public research and even private research programs.

Again, great story. Love it.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#137

Post by foobarian »

angarg12 wrote: post #102

There is something oddly humbling and inspiring about this story. The scientist thanklessly slaved away for a year and half before even producing the first breakthrough. It must require an immense amount of perseverance to do so. It also reminds me to the craft mentality and patience of Jiro dreams of sushi. Very refreshing when contrasted with western mentality, where people can't wait to get promoted fast enough.

The puzzling thing is how he was able to just keep ignoring orders from management to stop working on the pet project. Clearly this required quite some resources to continue and he didn't get fired. I don't know if I could get away with this at a Faang-type job.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#138

Post by Draiken »

dang wrote: post #95
Draiken wrote: post #53

It's incredible to see with cases like this how extremely absurd the relationship of capital and labor is. If I was someone aspiring to be a researcher, I'd most definitely give up due to stories like this. The person created probably close to trillions of value to humanity (his LEDs spawned multiple new industries), yet he was compensated less than what I make with web development. Meanwhile the CEO and other busine…

Could you please stop using HN for ideological battle? Your account has been doing this a lot lately, and when an account is primarily doing that, this is a line at which we ban the account. Past explanations: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39314755 .

I don't understand. This is literally part of what the video talks about: how he got fired after giving them billions. How is this an ideological battle? It's what was described in the video.

I don't disagree that I talk about capitalism on some threads that aren't specifically mentioning it, but in this case it's 100% part of the content.

I can only hope that the same treatment happens for accounts with the opposite view.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#139

Post by Smoosh »

01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #133
cypherpunks01 wrote: post #48

I thought this was a really well-produced video! It's difficult to communicate science to the public in an accessible way at the right level, and I think Derek does a commendable job. I really liked the LED explanation at the 4:00 mark. Can anyone who is familiar with semiconductor physics opine on how well this explanation models the reality?

I liked it, though it bugs me a little when people equate infrared and heat. Infrared is light. Light can heat things, and hot things can glow, but "infrared is heat" isn't exactly right.

I agree with you, but I think that for the general public you have to relate to what they experience, and thus intuitively know, and that is that heat “seems” to be different from light.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#140

Post by willis936 »

otherme123 wrote: post #132
Jare wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're comparing a whole billion people to someone who went on to earn a Nobel, it's a little unfair. There's plenty of people in the West (and East, and South and North) with massive, even unhealthy grit and determination, and plenty of people in Japan that just conform to the standard work culture of the country.

Also survivor bias at 11. I bet there are currently thousands, all around the world, devoting their lives to something that would not yield any significant result. Like the nuclear fussion menctioned in the video.

I'd rather grind to put humanity on a better path than to be cozy leeching off our unsustainable path.
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