Nobel prize – Physics

Charles K Kao:

• Born in Shanghai in Nov. 1933
• Chinese pioneer in the use of fiber optics in telecommunications.
• Widely regarded as the “Father of Fiber Optic Communications”.
• Shared 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for “groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication
• Credited for first publicly proposing the possibility of practical telecommunications using fibres

WILLARD S. BOYLE:

• Born August 19, 1924 is a Canadian physicist and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device.
• He served in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Canadian Navy during World War Two but did not see active service.
• Shared Nobel prize 2009 for in Physics for “the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD sensor.

GEORGE E. SMITH:

• Born May 10, 1930., New York.
• An American scientist and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device.
• He was awarded a one-quarter share in the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for “the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD.
• Smith and Boyle invented the charge-coupled device while working at Bell Labs in 1969.
• Smith, working to improve video telephone technology, and Boyle, charged with creating a new semiconductor memory chip for computers, sketched out the basic CCD in an hour or so. In less than a week, they had a working prototype.
• The CCD is a silicon-based integrated circuit that converts light energy into an electronic charge. While not successful as a memory device, the CCD was key to dramatic advances in digital imaging technology.
• CCDs provide video imaging devices a wide range of applications, including broadcasting, digital cameras, endoscopy, desktop videoconferencing, fax machines, and bar code readers.

with inputs from wikipedia . Image via www.theguardian.co.uk