Inventing CCD won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics

Two physicists co-inventor CCD image sensors have been honored and shared this year's Nobel Prize for Physics.

In honor of the masters of light, the Swedish Royal Council of Sciences decided to award the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics with half of the American professor Charles K. Kao, Standard Telecommunications Laboratory, Harlow, England. , about breakthrough achievements related to light transmission through fiber optics; and half belonged to American scientists Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for the invention of image semiconductor circuit - CCD sensor .

Two American scientists Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith (Photo: Examiner)

In its announcement, the Council said that these two cities of science helped to form the basic foundation for today's social networks. They have made breakthroughs in the application of practical technology and brought ideas to new tools for scientific research.

In 1966 Professor Charles K. Kao discovered how to transmit light through fiber optic cables. With a pure glass fiber, the light signal can be transmitted at a distance of more than 100 km from the common 20 meter distance in the 1960s. His enthusiasm inspired other researchers to continue. developing the potential of fiber optics. The first super-pure optical fiber was successfully built just four years later, in 1970.

Fiber optic applications have created the foundation for global broadband communications like the Internet today. Light is transmitted in small optical fibers, carrying both voice and data signals in all directions. As a result, words, images, music, movies . can be transmitted to all parts of the world in seconds.

Physicists Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith in 1969 invented a charge-coupled device, the imaging technology using the first digital sensor. CCD technology exploits the electro-optical effect according to Albert Einstein's theory (also won the Noble Physics Prize in 1921). In theory, this effect, light can be converted into electrical signals. The problem when designing an image sensor is that the collection and reading of these signals are then converted into the number of pixels of an image in a very short period of time.

CCD image sensor.(Photo: Airi Liste)

CCD is considered the heart of digital cameras . The invention of this device created a revolutionary way in photography, when light was able to electrify on the sensor instead of the chemical process on film. This digital image format allows the processing and distribution of images to be convenient and easier. Besides, CCD technology has also been used in many medical applications such as endoscopic technology in diagnosis and microsurgery.

The Swedish 10 million Crown prize (about US $ 1.4 million) will be divided into 50% for Professor Charles K. Kao and 50% for Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith physicists.