A collection of thoughts, reflections on life and everything in between.

Today is my birthday, and as I reflect on another year of life, it got into thinking about one of my favorite colors: blue. There’s just something about it that’s always appealed to me - maybe it’s the sense of calm it brings, or the way it lets my imagination. Anyway, let me tell you about this one time back in 2014 when I found something pretty cool that deepened my love for blue.

Back in 2014, I found myself in a library inside an Army cantonment, surrounded by magazines and papers. Among them, I randomly picked up a general knowledge booklet which had Nobel Prize winners. Naturally, there was a sense of pride as an Indian had won the Nobel Prize in Peace. But what really caught my eye were the winners in Physics, to be more specific Shuji Nakamura, for inventing blue LED light.

That got me curious, so I started searching about why blue LEDs were so important. I found out that despite advancements in red and green LED creation, making blue ones had been nearly impossible for decades. This was a challenge because there was higher energy gap required for electrons to transition from the valence band to the conduction band, which releases radiation and which in turn create light of that particular wavelength.

Ten years have passed since that moment, and today, I possess a much deeper understanding of this process (I studied materials engineering), but back then, I was just blown away by Nakamura’s hardship and determination. His story, right there in that booklet, showed how he went from dreaming of a Ph.D. to bagging a Nobel Prize.

Thinking back on Nakamura’s journey, it’s pretty inspiring. As I continue on my own path, I carry with me the lessons learned from Nakamura’s perseverance and an unwavering commitment. His story keeps me motivated to keep pushing boundaries and aiming for greatness in whatever I do.

So here’s to another year of chasing dreams, one blue LED at a time!

Written by Akash Meshram
Find out more about me on my homepage