Inventor of Digital Photography Passes

[otherprof]

I read the obituary this morning of George E Smith, who in 1969, working with Willard S Boyle, came up with the idea for the charge-coupled device (CCD) which is the basis of digital photography (and photocopiers and medical scanners, etc.) That was at Bell Labs, where they used to give smart people few restrictions and lots of resources, and let them do their thing. That’s where William Shockley emerged one day and presented the world with the transistor. The headline in The NY Times reads, “George E. Smith, 95, Nobel Winner Who Made Revolutionary Digital Eye”. I had never heard his name before.

 

[terri]

I hadn't heard of him until now, either. Thanks for this info.

 

[21limited]

I haven’t heard of him for years.