Inventors of the CCD Share Nobel Prize for Physics

<p>Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith will be honored for the creation of the ubiquitous sensor, originally intended as a medium for data storage. They will split the prize with Charles Kao, whose work led to the creation of fiber optics.</p>

<p>http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewContent.act?tag=3.5721%3Ficx_id=D9B5JVHO1</p>

<p>I heard that on NPR this morning - good for them...</p>

<p>- Randy</p>

<p>The AP headline is a wee bit misleading ... one of the co-inventors (Boyle) is Canadian. :-)<br /> <img src="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u255/mikerfns/eBay_misc/CAN_Flag.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u255/mikerfns/eBay_misc/NovaScotiaFlag.gif" alt="" /> <br /> http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=129&pg=3<br /> http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9013533.html</p>

<p>Of course, I couldn't help but notice this photo of laureate George Smith proudly displaying what seems to me to be a CMOS sensor:</p>

<p>http://hosted.ap.org/photos/3/3cec0268-f110-4725-bf69-b48becb40107-big.jpg</p>

<p>The original caption reads:</p>

<p>"A charge-coupled device, or CCD chip is seen inside a digital camera held by George E. Smith, 79, at his home in Waretown, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, after it was announced that he had won the Nobel Prize in physics. Smith along with Willard S. Boyle, 85, were honored for inventing the eye of the digital camera, a sensor able to transform light into a large number of pixels, the tiny points of color that are the building blocks of every digital image. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)"</p>

<p>Hmm...</p>

<p>All three are actually American citizens, but two of them also hold other passports as well (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/charles-kao-willard-boyle_n_310750.html">link</a> ), Canadian (Boyle) and British (via Shanghai- Kao)</p>

<p>Regarding the photograph of Smith that Robert points us to, my guess is that the photographer thought: "We need a prop for this shot." And then he took one of his Canon bodies, put it in sensor cleaning mode, and handed it to Dr. Smith to make the photograph more interesting, perhaps not realizing (or not caring) that Canon use CMOS sensors!</p>