In 1907, 27 year old British scientist Henry J. Round of Marconi Labs discovered the physical effect of electroluminescence, an optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to an electric current passed through it or to a strong electric field. The light produced was very dim and not bright enough to stimulate further research.

  20 years later in 1927 Oleg Lossew, a Russian physicist, informed the world of the creation of the first LED. He had managed to create a device where when electrons fell to a lower energy level, light could be generated through the previously discovered electroluminescence. His work was published in various scientific journals in Russia, Germany and Britain, however no practical uses were found until decades later.

  In 1951 a step forward for the world of science and semiconductor physics as a transistor is developed, making it possible to give an explanation of light emission.

  In 1961 American experimenting duo Gary Pittman and James R. Biard obtain the first US patent for an LED – despite the infrared that was emitted.

  In 1962 the first visible spectrum LED light was produced by Nick Holonyak Jr. and was red in colour. This coined his nickname, 'Father of the Light Emitting Diode'. The red LED's were not bright enough to be seen in daylight so the first LED applications were mainly used as indicator lights for military use.

  M. George Craford, a student of Holonyak, invented the first yellow LED in 1972 and then went on to produce a much brighter red LED.

  In 1994 Nichia Corporation’s Shuji Nakamura presents the first blue LED, which was based on InGaN - a semiconductor material consisting of indium nitride and gallium nitride.

  1995: The discovery of highly efficient blue LEDs swiftly led to the creation of the infamous white LED.

  2012: Lighting manufacturers, establish high power InGaN LEDs. The use of silicon substrates could potentially reduce the cost of production by 90 percent. And till date further research is going on.