OT-ish: Blue LEDs

[John Honniball]

Jules Richardson wrote:
> Does anyone know when blue LEDs first became commercially available?

I saw a blue LED waaay back in 1984, fitted to the disk controller
for a Newbrain.  My friend got hold of one, somehow and fitted it
as a "power-on" LED in an early example of "case-modding"!  He told
me that the blue LED was intended as a reference in spectroscopy.
It certainly formed a very narrow beam of light, instead of having
a diffuse "lens" as ordinary red LEDs do.  It made a spot of light
on the opposite wall of the Uni halls-of-residence room when we
turned the lights out!

-- 
John Honniball
coredump at gifford.co.uk