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Willard
S. Boyle
Willard
S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the charge-coupled device
(CCD), a light-sensitive microchip that enabled dramatic advances
in digital imaging technology. CCDs are found in most imaging devices
including digital cameras, scanners, and fax machines.
Born
in Nova Scotia, Boyle was home schooled until grade nine. After
training as a pilot for the Canadian Navy during World War II,
he went on to earn a Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal. While
working at Bell Labs in 1969, Boyle and Smith sketched out the
basic CCD in about an hour, and built a working prototype in under
a week.
The
charge-coupled device stores information in discrete packets of
electric charge in columns of closely spaced semiconductor capacitors.
Stored information is read by shifting stored charges down the
columns, one position at a time. The CCDs' ultra-sensitivity to
light makes it an important tool for scientists. Most telescopes,
including the Hubble Space Telescope, rely on CCDs for electronic
imaging.
Boyle's
major contributions include the first continuously operating ruby
laser and the first patent proposing a semiconductor injection
laser. At Bellcomm, Inc., Boyle helped identify landing sites
for NASA's manned lunar space program.
Herman
A. Affel
Karl Bosch
Lloyd
Espenschied
Willard S.
Boyle
George E.
Smith
Vinton G. Cerf
Robert E. Kahn
Robert W. Gore
Fritz Haber
Richard M. Hoe
Benjamin Holt
Ali Javan
Dale Kleist
Robert S.
Langer, Jr.
Julio C.
Palmaz
Gregory G.
Pincus
Russell
Games Slayter
George E.
Smith
John H. Thomas
Elihu
Thomson
William Erastus
Upjohn
Granville
T. Woods
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