Its said
That the fellow who later won the Physics Nobel "borrowed" a defunct >20M Yen MOCVD machine that was being thrown out because it had been replaced with a nice shiny new one, took it home with the aid of some friends and then spent evenings and weekends hacking and modding it to make the p type GaN for the very first blue LEDs which the same employer had said were impossible due to defects and would never work.
Said employer wasn't very happy about it but he'd got all the appropriate paperwork so there was nothing they could do.
Think it was the largest settlement ever paid to an employee in Japanese history.
Literally a 10,000:1 value gain.
Whats the Traditional Japanese phrase for "Skunkworks" ?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
