Device Arena

Alcatel-Lucent today announced that Dr. Willard Boyle and Dr. George Smith, both former researchers at Bell Labs, the company’s research arm, have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.

The two former Bell Labs scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for their invention and development of the charge-coupled device (CCD), a technology that transforms patterns of light into useful digital information, and is the basis for many forms of modern digital imaging. This is the seventh Nobel Prize for Bell Labs and brings the total number of Bell Labs researchers who have won the prize to thirteen.

Since its invention, this small device, initially about the size of a coin, has launched entirely new industries and markets. It is widely used in devices as diverse as digital cameras, video cameras and bar code readers as well as in security monitoring, medical endoscopy, modern astronomy and video conferencing.

“We are extremely proud of Willard Boyle and George Smith for what they have accomplished and the impact their innovations have made on the world we live in,” said Jeong Kim, President of Bell Labs. “They represent the best of Bell Labs – world class research focused on transforming the way we communicate. This spirit continues to be at the heart of Bell Labs – an approach of intellectual freedom in an environment where many disciplines and perspectives come together to do truly remarkable things. We would also like to congratulate Charles Kao, whose work in fiber optics has made a lasting contribution to the communications industry and enabled the many services that we take advantage of today.”

Both Boyle and Smith were members of the Semiconductor Components Division at Bell Labs and began their seminal work on the CCD in 1969. From 1953 to 1979, Dr. Boyle performed research in optical and satellite communications, digital and quantum electronics, computing, and radio astronomy. He was also part of the scientific team that helped NASA select the site for the first Apollo landing on the moon in 1969. Dr. Smith performed research at Bell Labs from 1959 to 1986. For much of this time, he led research aimed at creating novel lasers and other semiconductor devices.

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