Willard Boyle
Willard Boyle | |
|---|---|
Boyle in 2009 | |
| Born | Willard Sterling Boyle August 19, 1924 Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | May 7, 2011 (aged 86) Truro, Nova Scotia,[1] Canada |
| Citizenship |
|
| Education | Lower Canada College |
| Alma mater | McGill University (BSc, MSc, PhD) |
| Known for | Invention of the CCD[3] |
| Spouse |
Betty Boyle (m. 1946) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Solid-state physics |
| Institutions | Bell Telephone Laboratories |
| Thesis | The construction of a Dempster type mass spectrometer: its use in the measurement of the diffusion rates of certain alkali metals in tungsten (1950) |
| Doctoral advisor | H. G. I. Watson |
Willard Sterling Boyle (August 19, 1924 – May 7, 2011) was a Canadian applied physicist who shared one half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics with George E. Smith for their invention of the charge-coupled device.[4][5]
As director of Space Science and Exploratory Studies at Bellcomm, Boyle helped select lunar landing sites and provided support for the Apollo space program.[6]
Early life and education
Willard Sterling Boyle was born on August 19, 1924, in Amherst, Nova Scotia, and moved to Quebec with his parents when he was about 2-years-old.[7] He was homeschooled by his mother until the age of 14, when he began his formal education at Lower Canada College in Montreal.[7]
Boyle attended McGill University, but his education was interrupted in 1943 when he joined the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.[7] He was loaned to the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service, where he learned how to land Spitfires on aircraft carriers as the war ended.[7] After returning to McGill, Boyle gained a B.Sc. in 1947, an M.Sc. in 1948, and a Ph.D. in 1950.[8][9]
Career
After receiving his doctorate, Boyle spent one year at Canada's Radiation Lab and two years teaching physics at the Royal Military College of Canada.[7]
In 1953, Boyle joined Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he invented the first continuously operating ruby laser with Don Nelson in 1962,[6] and was named on the first patent for a semiconductor injection laser.[6] He was made director of Space Science and Exploratory Studies at the Bell Labs subsidiary Bellcomm in 1962, providing support for the Apollo space program and helping to select lunar landing sites.[6] He returned to Bell Labs in 1964, working on the development of integrated circuits.[6] Boyle was Executive Director of Research at Bell Labs from 1975 until his retirement in 1979.[10]
Charge-coupled device
In 1969, Boyle and George E. Smith invented the charge-coupled device (CCD), for which they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009.[8][6] The CCD allowed NASA to send clear pictures to Earth back from space.[10] It is also the technology that powers many digital cameras today. Smith said of their invention: "After making the first couple of imaging devices, we knew for certain that chemistry photography was dead."[11] Eugene Gordon and Mike Tompsett, two now-retired colleagues from Bell Labs, claim that its application to photography was not invented by Boyle.[12]
Personal life and death
In retirement he split his time between Halifax and Wallace, Nova Scotia.[13] In Wallace, he helped launch an art gallery with his wife, Betty, a landscape artist.[7] He was married to Betty since 1946 and had four children, 10 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.[5]
In his later years, Boyle suffered from kidney disease. Due to complications from this disease, he died on May 7, 2011, at a hospital in Truro, Nova Scotia, at the age of 86.[10]
Recognition
Awards
| Year | Organization | Award | Citation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Franklin Institute | Stuart Ballantine Medal[a] | "Invention of charge-coupled device structure for imagesensing, serial memory and signal processing." | [14] |
| 1974 | IEEE | IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award[a] | "For the invention of the charge-coupled device and leadership in the field of MOS device physics." | [15] |
| 1999 | NEC C&C Foundation | C&C Prize[a] | "For the Invention of the Charge-Coupled Device (CCD)." | [16] |
| 2001 | Edwin H. Land Medal[a] | "For the invention and development of the charge-coupled device, a contribution that has had extraordinary impact on image creation and utilization." | [17] | |
| 2006 | National Academy of Engineering | Charles Stark Draper Prize[a] | "For the invention of the Charge-Coupled Device (CCD), a light-sensitive component at the heart of digital cameras and other widely used imaging technologies." | [18] |
| 2009 | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences | Nobel Prize in Physics[b] | "For the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor." | [19] |
Memberships
| Year | Organization | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | National Academy of Engineering | Member | [20] |
Chivalric titles
| Year | Head of state | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Elizabeth II | Companion of the Order of Canada | [21] |
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Awarded jointly with George E. Smith.
- ^ Awarded jointly with Charles K. Kao and George E. Smith.
References
- ^ Willard Sterling Boyle
- ^ Willard Boyle on Nobelprize.org
- ^ Smith, George (2011). "Willard Boyle (1924–2011) Physicist who helped invent the 'eye of the digital camera'". Nature. 474 (7349): 37. doi:10.1038/474037a. PMID 21637246.
- ^ Chang, Kenneth (October 7, 2009). "Nobel Awarded for Harnessing Light". The New York Times. New York. p. A20. Retrieved October 9, 2009.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ a b "Canadian scientist shares Nobel physics prize". CBC News. Toronto. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Mahoney, Jill; Elizabeth Church (October 7, 2009). "The Nobel Physics Prize: A Canadian who took big risks takes home the big prize". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. pp. A1–A2.
- ^ a b c d e f Baxter, Joan (February 16, 2006). "A modest man's big idea Digital chip changed the world". The Toronto Star: A3. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
- ^ a b "McGill congratulates its second Nobel-winning alumnus of 2009". Alumni News. McGill University. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on January 31, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
- ^ Boyle, Willard Sterling (1950). The construction of a Dempster type mass spectrometer: its use in the measurement of the diffusion rates of certain alkali metals in tungsten (PhD). McGill University. OCLC 890947763. ProQuest 301841894.
- ^ a b c Maugh II, Thomas H. (May 19, 2011). "Nobelist was a father of the digital camera". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
- ^ Cassingham, Randy (May 15, 2011). "Willard Boyle". This is True. Ridgway, Colorado. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- ^ Nobel Controversy: Former Bell Labs Employee Says He Invented the CCD Imager IEEE
- ^ "Nobel laureate dies Saturday". Amherst Daily News. Amherst, N.S. May 8, 2011. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^ "Willard S. Boyle". Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on October 7, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ^ "IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award Recipients" (PDF). IEEE. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ "Successive Recipients of C&C Prize". NEC C&C Foundation. Archived from the original on September 28, 2025. Retrieved December 15, 2025.
- ^ "Edwin H. Land Medal". www.optica.org. Archived from the original on November 18, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
- ^ "Dr. Willard S. Boyle". www.nae.edu. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Nobel Prize in Physics 2009". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
- ^ "Dr. Willard S. Boyle". www.nae.edu. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Governor General announces 74 new appointments to the Order of Canada". Queen's Printer for Canada. June 30, 2010. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
External links
- Willard Boyle on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture on December 8, 2009 CCD – an Extension of Man's Vision