LED inventor Holonyak picked for '15 Draper Prize

The University of Illinois engineer who invented the first visible-light LED was honored by one of the profession's most prestigious prizes Tuesday, along with two of his proteges. Nick Holonyak Jr., a retired professor of electrical and computer engineering, and UI alumni George Craford and Russell Dupuis, who studied under Holonyak, received the 2015 Draper Prize. They were among five innovators honored by the National Academy of Engineering, which administers the $500,000 award sponsored by Draper Laboratory, a research and development organization in Cambridge, Mass.