SR0053 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0053 LRB103 28142 ECR 54521 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Nick Holonyak Jr., Ph.D., who passed away on September 18, 2022; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak was born in Zeigler on November 3, 1928; he worked on the Illinois Central Railroad before attending college; he studied electrical engineering, obtaining his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; while earning his degrees, he studied under two-time Nobel Laureate John Bardeen, who selected him for a Texas Instruments fellowship with Gordon Teal in 1953; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak went to work for Bell Labs with John Moll on a number of silicon devices, including transistors; he continued to work in solid state science and was employed by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and General Electric; on October 9, 1962, he demonstrated the first visible-light-emitting diode at General Electric through creating crystals of gallium arsenide phosphide to make an LED emit visible red light; his work led to the development of the first practical visible-spectrum LED, which is now commonly used worldwide in light bulbs, device displays, and lasers; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak returned to the University of Illinois (U of I) as a professor in 1963; he and his students demonstrated the first quantum-well laser in 1977, which is now used in fiber optics, CD and DVD players, and medical diagnostic devices; more recently, he developed a technique to bend light within gallium arsenide chips, a development which allows computer chips to transmit information by light rather than electricity; with fellow U of I professor Milton Feng, he also developed the transistor laser, a transistor with both light and electric outputs that could enable next-generation, high-speed communications technologies; he was named the John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the U of I in 1993; he later retired from his position as a faculty member in 2013; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak was the author of two scientific books, Semiconductor Controlled Rectifiers in 1964 and Physical Properties of Semiconductors in 1989; he also held 41 patents; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors; he was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Electrical and Electronic Engineering Society, the American Physical Society, and the Optical Society of America (OSA), which became Optica; he was also a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak received numerous awards for his contributions to science, including OSA's Charles Hard Townes Award in 1992, the National Academy of Sciences' Award for the Industrial Application of Science in 1993, the Japan Prize in 1995, the Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize in 2001, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Medal of Honor in 2003, Russia's Global Energy Prize in 2003, the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2004, the National Academy of Engineering's Draper Prize in 2015, and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2021; he was honored by President George H. W. Bush with the National Medal of Science in 1990 and by President George W. Bush with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2002; he became the namesake of the Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award by Optica in 1997, which is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to optics based on semiconductor-based optical devices and materials, including basic science and technological applications; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak was a humble innovator who was known for his research, his excellence in mentorship, and his dedication to his students; and

WHEREAS, Nick Holonyak is survived by his wife of 60 years, Katherine; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Nick Holonyak Jr., Ph.D., and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Nick Holonyak as an expression of our deepest sympathy.