Goodbye to Willard Boyle, the inventor of CCDs

Willard Boyle, the inventor of CCDs, the “digital eyes” that revolutionized the imaging industry, has died at the age of 86. In addition to the invention of CCDs, Willard Boyle carried out numerous developments in light applied to electronics and communications.

Willard Boyle, the inventor of CCDs, the “digital eyes” that revolutionized the imaging industry, has died at the age of 86.

Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1924 and raised in northern Quebec where he moved when he was just three years old, Willard Boyle graduated from the University of Montreal and after participating in the Second World War and completing his studies at McGrill University He joined the Bell Company.

Together with George Smith, he created in these legendary Americans the CCD (Charged Coupled Device) image semiconductor circuit, the sensor that is the basis of image capture today and can be considered the authentic “electronic eyes”.

In addition to the invention of CCDs, Boyle carried out numerous developments in light applied to electronics and communications, with notable work in relation to the transmission of data over long distances through optical fiber.

CCD technology is based on the photoelectric effect that Albert Einstein predicted, and which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1921. This effect causes light to be transformed into electrical signals. The fact that it allows images to be captured without resorting to film has exploded the possibilities of photography and video, including scientific ones.

The invention of CCDs earned him, along with his colleagues George E. Smith and Charles K. Kao, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009.

Boyle died last week at the age of 86.