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2009 Physics Nobel Prize ResourcesThe American Institute of Physics is proud to present a host of resources on the 2009 Nobel Laureates in Physics, Drs. Willard Boyle and George Smith, formerly of Bell Labs, for their invention of the charge-coupled device; and Dr. Charles Kao, of Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong, for his work in development of optical fibers for telecommunications.
Dr. George Smith, 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics, is pictured here. Overview of optical fibers and charge-coupled devices THE 2009 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS WAS AWARDED TO Charles K. Kao (Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong), and Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith (both of whom worked chiefly at Bell Laboratories, in Murray Hill, NJ, USA) for their work leading to modern telecommunications. Kao will receive half the prize money for helping to invent modern optical fiber, allowing signals to travel flawlessly thousands of miles. Boyle and Smith will split the other half of the prize for their development of charge coupled devices (CCDs). The part of this year's award associated with Mr. Kao underscores the fact that optical fibers carry an increasing fraction of phone calls, television programs, and internet traffic into homes. Data can move down silicon fiber more quickly than through copper wire because nothing is faster than light, and light signaling offers higher bandwidth for electronic circuitry. Encoding information in the form of light pulses rather than as electric pulses allows more data to flow down a line. Kao's principal achievement was in making the fiber more efficient; by excluding impurities in the fiber material, he developed a material that absorbed less of the light carrying signals over long distances. The part of the prize associated with Boyle and Smith recognizes the huge advantage of capturing images in digital rather than film form. Pictures can be sent through wires more easily, can be manipulated and processed in creative ways (e.g., you can see a moving comet or supernova in sky scans by subtracting tonight's pixel map from last night's map), and can be stored more handily. Devices such as photomultiplier tubes for converting light into an electric signal have been around for decades. But the CCD allowed whole two-dimensional fields of optical data to be read out more quickly and efficiently. And, of course, CCD's have been the backbone of the commercial digital camera industry. Quote from Dr. H. Frederick Dylla, Executive Director of AIP "When combined with the laser and the transistor, the invention of an efficient, low loss optical fiber has made nearly instantaneous communication possible across the entire globe," says AIP Executive Director and CEO H. Frederick Dylla. "This mode of communication is essential for high speed internet and forms the optical backbone of 21st century commerce." "The CCD sensor has revolutionized technical, professional, and consumer photography in the last few decades," Dylla adds. "Taken together these inventions may have had a greater impact on humanity than any others in the last half century." From Physics Today From Inside Science News Service
Oral History interviews with Dr. Charles Kao Laser pioneer interviews, 1985-1986 Interviews for book City of Light : The story of fiber optics 1994-1996 Access AIP Journal Articles by Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith Discover every article that AIP has published from these Nobel Laureates. George E. Smith Charge Coupled 8-Bit Shift Register Hall-Effect Domain Detector Far-Infrared Circular
Polarizer Negative Thermoelectric Figure
of Merit in a Magnetic Field Effects of a Magnetic Field on
the Thermoelectric Properties of a Bismuth-Antimony Alloy Thermoelectric Properties of
Bismuth-Antimony Alloys High-Pressure Microwave Window Willard S. Boyle Radiant Self-Stabilization of Temperature Two Distinct Types of Short
Arcs Electrical Breakdown in High
Vacuum Self-Propagating Intermittent
Discharge Arcing at Electrical Contacts
on Closure. Part VI. The Anode Mechanism of Extremely Short Arcs Thermoregulator for a Liquid
Helium Bath A Method of Determining
Electrical Resistivities at Low Temperatures |
