Nobel prize – Physics

October 7, 2009

Charles Kao, Willard Boyle and George Smith, fathers of fibre optics and digital imaging, won the 2009 Nobel prize for 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