CCD inventors receive Nobel Prize

The two inventors of the Charge-Coupled Device were award the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith developed the CCD image sensor in 1969 while at Bell Laboratories, based on the photoelectric effect that transforms light into electric signals.

The CCD became the electronic eye for digital photography, and, with flash storage, replacing film. 

The two jointly share one-half of the prize awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences with the inventor of fiber optics.

October 12, 2009