Last month, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made the annoucement that the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three people who have contributed groundbreaking achievements which helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies.

Charles K. Kao of Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong was awarded "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" and the other half was jointly awarded to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor".

In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The CCD technology makes use of the photoelectric effect, as theorized by Albert Einstein and for which he was awarded the 1921 year's Nobel Prize. By this effect, light is transformed into electric signals. The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, pixels, in a short time.

The CCD is the digital camera's electronic eye. It revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. The digital form facilitates the processing and distribution of these images. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery.

Digital photography has become an irreplaceable tool in many fields of research. The CCD has provided new possibilities to visualize the previously unseen. It has given us crystal clear images of distant places in our universe as well as the depths of the oceans.

Though the CCD sensor is most commonly used by the general public in their digital cameras, Boyle has said he is most proud of the telescopic applications it has in astronomy. The device is used to capture images from the Hubble space telescope and Mars Rover.

"We saw for the first time the surface of Mars," Boyle told The Associated Press. "It wouldn't have been possible without our invention."

Boyle's other inventions include the first continuously operating ruby laser and he also worked with NASA to provide technological support during the Apollo space program.

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(October 6, 2009). Canadian Scientist shares Nobel Physics prize, CBC News. Retrieved on October 22, 2009 from http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/06/nobel-prize-physics-kao-boyle-smith281.html?ref=rss

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