Most likely not a blue emitting LED but rather a white light LED with a blue cover....not even close to the same thing
In the article, they mention that the discovery was twenty years ago, but they are just getting the award now.
I am a big fan of LEDs - their performance numbers are so overwhelmingly superior to incandescent or flourescent lights. If their price keeps dropping (as anticipated) the older bulbs will not be able to compete on any basis, except to provide some heat when that is desired, like hatching eggs. They are not even most efficient at that.
I believe it really is blue - it has to do with the wavelength.
NO - there are true blue-emitting LEDS made from gallium nitride. GaN is a very difficult material system, that’s why it has taken a long time to get a high-efficiency blue LED.
White LEDs are usually blue LEDs with a broad spectrum phosphor, although some are red, green and blue LEDs in the same package.
It is the addition of blue leds to red and green ones that allows a self contained composite white led to be made I think is what an earlier post is saying. Like pixels on a TV screen...