engineering

M. George Craford

M. George Craford is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand M. George Craford rather than just read about it. In short: M. George Craford (born December 29, 1938) is an American electrical engineer known for his work in Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

Key takeaways

M. George Craford belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect M. George Craford to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of M. George Craford from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

M. George Craford (born December 29, 1938) is an American electrical engineer known for his work in Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Raised in an Iowa farming community, he studied physics at the University of Iowa, where he earned his BA in 1961. Craford received his MS (1963) and PhD (1967) degrees in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1967, began his professional career at the Monsanto Chemical Company, where he discovered the "Yellow light". When Monsanto sold its LED and compound semiconductor business in 1979, Craford went to Hewlett Packard, where in 1982 he became the research and development manager of the HP Optoelectronics Division. When Lumileds Lighting (now Philips Lumileds Lighting Company) spun out from HP in 1999, Craford was named the company's Chief Technical Officer (CTO). In 1972 Craford invented the first yellow LED as well as red and red-orange LEDs. At Monsanto, his group developed nitrogen-doped GaAsP, and at HP pioneered development of AlInGaP LEDs and developed AlGaAs and InGaN products. More recently, his team implemented compound semiconductor wafer bonding to create devices with efficiencies exceeding incandescent and halogen lights. Craford was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1994 for contributions to light-emitting-diode (LED) materials and devices, including the first yellow LED. He is also an IEEE Fellow and recipient of the 2002 National Medal of Technology and 1995 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, as well as awards from the Optical Society of America, Materials Research Society (MRS), and Electrochemical Society for his LED research. He received the IEEE Edison Medal, 2017 for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts. The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering was awarded to Isamu Akasaki, Shuji Nakamura, Nick Holonyak Jr, M. George Craford and Russell Dupuis for the creation and development of LED lighting, which forms the basis of all solid state lighting technology.

References "M. George Craford", IEEE Spectrum, volume 32, issue 2, February 1995, pages 52–55. ISSN 0018-9235. "President Bush Awards Lumileds Lighting’s Chief Technology Officer Dr. M. George Craford the 2002 National Medal of Technology", press release, (November 6, 2003, Lumileds Lighting. Three Fives editorial board biography Materials Research Society (MRS) biography

Notes

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with M. George Craford

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what M. George Craford claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to M. George Craford before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about M. George Craford ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of M. George Craford

In research: M. George Craford appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses M. George Craford in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: M. George Craford is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1938 births, American electrical engineers, Draper Prize winners, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for M. George Craford outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study M. George Craford in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what M. George Craford means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain M. George Craford out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is M. George Craford in simple terms?

M. George Craford (born December 29, 1938) is an American electrical engineer known for his work in Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

Why does M. George Craford matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study M. George Craford?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on M. George Craford.