George E. Smith
Facts
© The Nobel Foundation. Photo: U. Montan
George E. Smith
Nobel Prize in Physics 2009
Born: 10 May 1930, White Plains, NY, USA
Died: 28 May 2025, Barnegat Township, NJ, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA
Prize motivation: “for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor”
Prize share: 1/4
Work
The ability to store images in a digital format is an important prerequisite for information technology. In 1969 George Smith and Willard Boyle sketched an electronic memory design, but their concept instead became the basis for a light sensitive charge coupled device, or CCD. In the sensor there is a grid of light sensitive cells that emit electrons when exposed to light, causing the cells to become electrically charged. When a voltage is applied to the cells, electrical signals are generated, which are used to build up a digital image. CCD was a breakthrough for digital camera technology.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 14 laureates' work and discoveries range from quantum tunnelling to promoting democratic rights.
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