When Nick Holonyak set out to create a new kind of visible lighting using semiconductor alloys, his colleagues thought he was unrealistic. Today, his discovery of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are used in everything from DVDs to alarm clocks to airports. Dozens of his students have continued his work, developing lighting used in traffic lights and other everyday technology. On April 23, 2004, Holonyak received the $500, 000 Lemelson-MIT Prize at a ceremony in Washington. This marks the 10th year that the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has given the award to prominent inventors. "Anytime you get an award big or little. It's always a surprise." Holonyrak said. Holonyak, 75, was a student of John Bardeen, an inventor of the transistor, in the early 1950s. After graduate school, Holonyak worked at Ben Labs. He later went to General Electric, where he invented a switch now widely used in house dimmer switches. Later, Holonyak started looking into how semiconductors could be used to generate light. But while his colleagues were looking at how to generate invisible light, he wanted to generate visible light. The LEDS he invented in 1962 now last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, and are more environmentally friendly and effective. Holonyak, now a professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics at the University of Illinois, said he suspected that LEDs would become as commonplace as they are today, but didn't realize how many uses they would have. "You don't know in the beginning. You think you're doing something important. You think it's worth doing, but you really can't tell what the big payoff is going to be, and when, and how. You just don't know, "he said. The Lemelson. MIT Program also recognized Edith Flanigen, 75, with the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on a new generation of "molecular sieves", that can separate molecules by size.
单选题
Holonyak's colleagues thought he would fail in his research on LEDs at the time when he started it.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 利用题干中的核心词colleagues作为答案线索词，找到答案相关句。根据该句内容可以推断出LEDs就是前句中提到的visible lighting using semiconductor alloys。因此选A。
单选题
Holonyak believed that his students that were working with him on the project would get the Lemelson-MIT Prize sooner or later.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 需要注意题干中出现的修饰词sooner or later(迟早)。利用题干中提到的新信息—他的学生，作为答案线索。在下文的内容中也没有看到有关“Holonyak对其学生的期望”的话语，因此选C。
单选题
Holonyak was the inventor of the transistor in the early 1950s.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 答案相关句：Holonyak, 75, was a student of John Bardeen, an inventor-of the transistor, in the early 1950s(该句所反映的内容是：John Bardeen是20世纪50年代初期晶体管的发明者)，问题句的内容与原文的内容不一致，因此选B。
单选题
Holonyak believed that LEDs would become very popular in the future.