(CNN) -- Two scientists in Japan and one at the University of California at Santa Barbara were awarded this year's Nobel Prize in physics for helping create the LED light, a transformational and ubiquitous source that now lights up everything from our living rooms to our flashlights to our smart phones.

The awarding committee said the trio's work is in keeping with the spirit of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the prize, because LED lights save on energy, last long and are environmentally-friendly because they don't contain mercury.

They "hold great promise for increasing the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity grids," the awarding committee said.

Specifically, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura were honored for inventing the blue light emitting diode.

Red and green diodes had been around for years. But when the three created the blue diodes in the early 1990s, only then could the white lamps that glow from every corner of our world be created.

For 30 years, scientists had tried to create the blue diode.

"They triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology," the committee said. "They succeeded where everyone else failed."

LED lights last longer and are more efficient than regular light bulbs and fluorescent lamps.

Medicine Nobel Prize goes for work on cells that form brain's GPS system

Not prepared for it

Nakamura, a scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said by phone that receiving the news that he had won the Nobel prize was "unbelievable."

Akasaki and Amano are affiliated with Nagoya University in Japan.

Amano was on a flight when the committee tried to call him so was not able to hear the news in advance of the news conference, the committee said.

Staffan Normark, permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said that Nakamura and Akasaki had been thrilled to learn they were prize winners.

"I think they were not prepared for it. They had not been waiting up all day and all night for this call," he said.

The three winners will share the 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million) attached to the prize.

Last year's physics prize went jointly to Francois Englert of Belgium and Peter Higgs of the United Kingdom for the theory of how particles acquire mass. Their theoretical brilliance was borne out when researchers confirmed the existence in 2012 of the Higgs boson, or "God particle."

The Nobel prizes in chemistry, literature and economic sciences will be announced later this week, as will the Nobel Peace Prize.

物理學諾貝爾獎去的科學家完善LED燈誰
由勞拉·史密斯-斯巴克，美國有線電視新聞網
2014年10月7日 - 更新1435 GMT（2235 HKT）

您的視頻將開始瞬間。
新聞提要
新：科學家中村修二說，獲得諾貝爾獎是“難以置信”
委員會：三重奏的工作是符合阿爾弗雷德·諾貝爾的精神
他們發明的藍色發光二極管
再加上紅色和綠色，它創造白光LED燈
（CNN） -兩位科學家在日本，一個在加州大學聖巴巴拉分校分別獲得今年的諾貝爾文學獎在物理學的幫助建立了LED燈，轉型和無處不在的源代碼，現在點亮一切，從我們居住的房間給我們手電筒給我們的智能手機。
頒獎委員會說，三人的工作是符合阿爾弗雷德·諾貝爾的獎的創辦人的精神，因為LED燈節省能源，持久，是環保，因為它們不含有汞。
他們“提高生活質量，為世界各地超過15十億人誰沒有進入電網大有希望”的頒獎委員會說。
具體來說，赤崎勇，天野弘和中村修二榮幸的是發明了藍色發光二極管。
紅色和綠色的二極管已經存在了多年。但是，當創建的三個藍色二極管，在90年代初，才可以創建，從我們這個世界的每一個角落泛出白色的燈。
30年來，科學家們曾試圖打造藍二極管。
“他們在引發照明技術的一個根本轉變，”委員會說。“他們成功地在那裡每個人都失敗了。”
LED燈的持續時間更長，比普通燈泡和熒光燈的效率更高。
醫學諾貝爾獎去工作在形成大腦的GPS系統細胞
不準備為它
中村，一位科學家在美國加州聖巴巴拉大學，通過電話表示，接受他贏得了諾貝爾文學獎的消息是“不可思議”。
赤崎和天野隸屬於名古屋大學在日本。
天野是在飛行時，該委員會試圖打電話給他，所以沒能聽到的消息提前了新聞發布會，該委員會說。
斯塔Normark，科學的瑞典皇家科學院常任秘書說，中村和赤崎已經激動學習他們獲獎。
“我認為他們並沒有準備好它。他們並沒有在等待了一整天，整夜為這個電話，”他說。
三位獲獎者將分享附著在獎金800萬瑞典克朗（120萬美元）。
去年的物理學獎共同赴比利時弗朗索瓦·恩格勒特和英國的彼得·希格斯的粒子如何獲得質量的理論。他們的理論光輝，證實了當研究人員證實希格斯玻色子，或者2012年存在“上帝粒子”。
諾貝爾化學獎，文學和經濟學將於本週晚些時候公佈，也將諾貝爾和平獎。