Nick Holonyak
American physicist (1928–2022)
Nick Holonyak Jr. (November 3, 1928 – September 18, 2022) was an American electronics engineer. He is noted particularly for his 1962 invention and first demonstration of a semiconductor laser diode that emitted visible light. This device was the forerunner of the first generation of commercial light-emitting diodes (LEDs). He was then working at a General Electric research laboratory near Syracuse, New York. He left General Electric in 1963 and returned to his alma mater, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he later became John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics.
Early life and career
Nick Holonyak Jr. was born on November 3, 1928, in Zeigler, Illinois, to Rusyn immigrants. The family moved to Glen Carbon, Illinois where his father worked in a coal mine. Holonyak was the first member of his family to receive any type of formal schooling.
“Nick Holonyak” enters the record as american physicist (1928–2022). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Nick, Holonyak and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Nick Holonyak” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Nick, Holonyak and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q360445. VIAF identifies the subject as 110371383. The Library of Congress control number is n88117931. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1928, 2022, 1962 and 1963.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Nick Holonyak”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Nick Holonyak primary sources, Nick Holonyak archive and Nick research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Nick Holonyak”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Nick Holonyak” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.