In this paper we shall discuss the development of blue light-emitting (LED) and laser diodes (LD), starting early in the 20th century. Various materials systems were investigated, but in the end, the nitrides of aluminum, gallium and indium proved to be the most effective. Single crystal thin films of GaN first emerged in 1968. Blue light-emitting diodes were first reported in 1971. Devices grown in the 1970s were prepared by the halide transport method, and were never efficient enough for commercial products due to contamination. Devices created by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy gave far superior performance. Actual true blue LEDs based on direct band-to-band transitions, free of recombination through deep levels, were finally developed in 1994, leading to a breakthrough in LED performance, as well as nitride based laser diodes in 1996. In 2014, the scientists who achieved these critical results were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.