Japanese trio Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura are probably still in a festival mood after being awarded the Nobel Prize for their technological breakthrough in blue LEDs, but the man behind the first LED has been left feeling bypassed by the committee, according to a AP report.

Turning 85 this year, Professor Nick Holonyak Jr. was the first to invent the red LED in the 1960s, which laid the foundation for future LED technology developments. Without Holonyak’s discovery, blue LEDs would never have been possible. The red LEDs that emerged 30 years prior to blue LED were widely applied in fiber optics, and even in DVD players.

Speaking to AP reporters, Holonyak wife revealed her husband had accepted he would never receive a Nobel Prize for his work several years ago.

"Hell, I'm an old guy now," he added. "But I find this one insulting."

While Holonyak recognizes the significance of the recent Nobel Prize Laureates works, he also feels the committee has been unfair to early LED researchers.

The Nobel Prize in Physics this year was awarded to Akasaki, a professor at Meijo University, Nagoya; Hiroshi Amano, a professor at Nagoya University, and Japanese-born American scientist Shuji Nakamura, 60, of the University of California at Santa Barbara for their work in blue LEDs.