The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea.

  • iopq@lemmy.worldEnglish
    56·
    11 months ago

    Who funded him to go? It’s not like he paid for the trip out of his pocket

    The company could have also just fired him for not listening to orders. But I agree that they didn’t compensate him enough

    • gmtom@lemmy.worldEnglish
      82·
      11 months ago

      The CEO of the time who actively went against the conventional wisdom of capitalism to fund a person he had know for decades and personally knew how capable he was.

      Then as soon as that CEO left the personal connection was gone and typical capitalist mentality took over and tried to shut it down

      Just like almost every big discovery this happened in spite of capitalism, not because of it.

      • iopq@lemmy.worldEnglish
        31·
        11 months ago

        That could happen in socialism, where a government grant runs out and research is no longer funded because the person in charge of funding science changes.

        • gmtom@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          11 months ago

          Socialism isn’t “when the government does stuff” it’s better thought of as when companies become democratised, so while it could still happen you have more chance to appeal to average people rather then purely answering to the CEO chasing profit margins.