Willard S. Boyle

Facts

Willard S. Boyle

© The Nobel Foundation. Photo: U. Montan

Willard S. Boyle
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009

Born: 19 August 1924, Amherst, NS, Canada

Died: 7 May 2011, Truro, NS, Canada

Affiliation at the time of the award: Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA

Prize motivation: “for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor”

Prize share: 1/4

Work

The ability to store images in a digital format is an important prerequisite for information technology. In 1969 Willard Boyle and George Smith sketched an electronic memory design, but their concept instead became the basis for a light sensitive charge coupled device, or CCD. In the sensor there is a grid of light sensitive cells that emit electrons when exposed to light, causing the cells to become electrically charged. When a voltage is applied to the cells, electrical signals are generated, which are used to build up a digital image. CCD was a breakthrough for digital camera technology.

To cite this section
MLA style: Willard S. Boyle – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Mon. 25 Nov 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2009/boyle/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.

See them all presented here.

Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.