2009 Nobel Prize in Physics Goes to the Masters of Light
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009 to three researchers who changed the world with their manipulation of light: Charles K. Kao, formerly of Standard Telecom Labs in the UK, for breakthroughs in long-haul fiber optics and Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Telephone Labs in the US for the invention of Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs). These scientific achievements have helped shape the foundations of today’s networked societies, created many practical innovations for everyday life, and provided new tools for scientific exploration.
Comments:
CCDs have surely come a long way. <br><br>When I was an Electrical Engineering college student (in the mid 1970s, about 5 years after the CCD was invented) I had the unique opportunity to attend a lecture that was given by George Smith of Bell Labs at a small IEEE gathering in NJ.<br><br>He talked enthusiastically about his new invention, the CCD. But at the time, practical real-world applications of the device were nowhere to be found. In the lecture he referred to his new device as a "Bucket Brigade" because of the serial nature in which the stored charge was moved or shifted from from one cell to the next. The most immediate application at the time was expected to be as a low-cost, bulk memory device.<br><br>That chance encounter with George Smith was an important point in my life. At the time I thought to myself "This stuff is so cool -- Bell Labs is definitely the place I want to work." <br><br>Not too many years later my wish came true and I got an opportunity to work at Bell Labs, not on CCDs, but on single chip microprocessors. <br><br>So, congratulations George. Your invention has dramatically changed our world in many ways. And your enthusiasm in the 1970s had a profound influence on at least one future EE -- Me. <br><br>Guy Pirro <br>
Funding Member
