(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.

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 have ushered in a new energy- and environmentally-friendly light source.

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

Red and green diodes had been around. But when the three created the blue diodes in the early 1990s, “they triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology.”

“They succeeded where everyone else failed,” the committee said.

LED lights last longer and are more efficient than regular light blulbs and flourescent lamps.

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.

Nakamura is a scientist at University of California, Santa Barbara.

Akasaki and Amano are affiliated with Nagoya University in Japan.

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.

Each prize comes with 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million).

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