along with fellow UCSB professors Dr. Steven DenBaars and Dr. James Speck, founded Soraa, a developer of solid-state lighting technology built on pure gallium nitride substrates. Nakamura holds 208 US utility patents as of May 5, 2020. Recognition 2001 – Asahi Prize from the Japanese Newspaper, Asahi Shimbun 2002 – Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute. 2006 – Finland's Millennium Technology Prize for his continuing efforts to make cheaper and more efficient light sources. 2007 – nominee for the European Inventor Award awarded by the European Patent Office 2008 – Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research. 2008 – Honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 2008 – Holst Memorial Lecture Award [Eindhoven University of Technology and Royal Philips Research, the Netherlands]. 2009 – Harvey Prize from the Technion in Israel. 2012 – Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA) Inventor of the Year. 2014 – Nobel Prize in Physics together with Prof. Isamu Akasaki and Prof. Hiroshi Amano for inventing blue light-emitting diodes. 2015 – Global Energy Prize for the invention, commercialization and development of energy-efficient white LED lighting technology 2015 – Asia Game Changer Award 2017 – Mountbatten Medal 2018 – Zayed Future Energy Prize 2021 – Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering 2022 – Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement See also List of Japanese Nobel laureates References Citations Bibliography Further reading Shuji Nakamura, Gerhard Fasol, Stephen J. Pearton, The Blue Laser Diode : The Complete Story, Springer; 2nd edition, October 2, 2000, () External links Professor Nakamura's home page at UCSB The Solid State Lighting and Energy Center at UCSB Shuji Nakamura Wins $188.7 Million Settlement from Former Employer Nichia for Blue Spectrum Breakthrough Technology New York Times article on Nakamura's settlement with Nichia — Nitride semiconductor light-emitting device Shuji Nakamura wins the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize Nichia's Shuji Nakamura: Dream of the Blue Laser Diode 2008 Prince of Asturias Award For Technical and Scientific Research Harvey Prize Shuji Nakamura SPIE Photonics West plenary presentation: Future and present technologies of solid state lighting 1954 births Living people 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American inventors 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American inventors American electronics engineers American inventors American Nobel laureates Asia Game Changer Award winners Draper Prize winners Japanese academics Japanese electronics engineers Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese inventors Japanese Nobel laureates Light-emitting