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George E. Smith

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This article is about the American physicist. For other people, see George E. Smith (disambiguation) and George Smith (disambiguation).
George E. Smith
Smith in 2009
Born
George Elwood Smith

(1930-05-10)May 10, 1930
White Plains, New York, US
DiedMay 28, 2025(2025-05-28) (aged 95)
Barnegat Township, New Jersey, US
Alma mater
Known forInvention of the CCD
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsSolid-state physics
InstitutionsBell Telephone Laboratories (1959–1986)
ThesisThe Anomalous Skin Effect in Bismuth (1959)
Doctoral advisorA. W. Lawson

George Elwood Smith (May 10, 1930 – May 28, 2025) was an American applied physicist and a co-inventor of the charge-coupled device (CCD). Smith shared one half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willard Boyle "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor."[1]

Education

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George Elwood Smith was born on May 10, 1930, in White Plains, New York. After serving in the U.S. Navy for four years, Smith qualified as a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania in 1952, graduating with a B.S. in 1955. He then became a teaching assistant at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in 1959.[2] The title of his thesis was The Anomalous Skin Effect in Bismuth.[3]

Career

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Smith worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, from 1959 until his retirement in 1986, where he led research into novel lasers and semiconductor devices. During his tenure, Smith was awarded dozens of patents and eventually headed the VLSI device department.[4]

In 1969, Smith and Willard Boyle invented the charge-coupled device (CCD), for which they have jointly received the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1973, the 1974 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the 2006 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Personal life and death

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Both Boyle and Smith were avid sailors who took many trips together. After retirement, Smith sailed around the world with his life partner, Janet, for seventeen years, eventually giving up his hobby in 2003 to "spare his 'creaky bones' from further storms".[4] He resided in the Waretown section of Ocean Township, Ocean County, New Jersey.[5]

Smith died at his home in Barnegat Township, New Jersey, on May 28, 2025, at the age of 95.[6]

Recognition

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Awards

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Year Organization Award Citation Ref.
1973 United States Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Medal[a] "Invention of charge-coupled device structure for imagesensing, serial memory and signal processing." [7]
1974 United States 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." [8]
1999 Japan NEC C&C Foundation C&C Prize[a] "For the Invention of the Charge-Coupled Device (CCD)." [9]
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." [10]
2006 United States 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." [11]
2009 Sweden Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Prize in Physics[b] "For the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor." [1]
2015 United Kingdom Royal Photographic Society Progress Medal [12]
2017 United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering[c] "For their work on Digital Imaging Sensors." [13]

Memberships

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Year Organization Type Ref.
1983 United States National Academy of Engineering Member [14]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Awarded jointly with Willard Boyle.
  2. ^ Awarded jointly with Willard Boyle and Charles K. Kao.
  3. ^ Awarded jointly with Eric Fossum, Nobukazu Teranishi, and Michael Tompsett.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Nobel Prize in Physics 2009". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  2. ^ "George E. Smith – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on November 11, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  3. ^ Smith, George E. (1959). "Anomalous Skin Effect in Bismuth". Physical Review. 115 (6): 1561–1568. Bibcode:1959PhRv..115.1561S. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.115.1561. ProQuest 301893432.
  4. ^ a b PROFILE: George Smith – Nobel winner and world sailor, EarthTimes, October 6, 2009, archived from the original on September 5, 2012, retrieved October 6, 2009.
  5. ^ Staff. "NJ man's discovery lands Nobel Prize", WPVI-TV, October 6, 2009. Accessed November 27, 2013. "George E. Smith, 79, holds a display with a photograph of the first video telephone and some early CCD chips at his home in Waretown, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, after it was announced that he had won the Nobel Prize in physics."
  6. ^ Loeb McClain, Dylan (May 30, 2025). "George E. Smith, Nobel Winner Who Created a Digital Eye, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  7. ^ "George E. Smith". Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on May 31, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  8. ^ "IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award Recipients" (PDF). IEEE. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  9. ^ "Successive Recipients of C&C Prize". NEC C&C Foundation. Archived from the original on September 28, 2025. Retrieved December 15, 2025.
  10. ^ "Edwin H. Land Medal". www.optica.org. Archived from the original on November 18, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  11. ^ "Dr. George E. Smith". www.nae.edu. Archived from the original on July 9, 2024. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  12. ^ "Progress Medal". Royal Photographic Society. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  13. ^ "Digital Imaging Sensors". qeprize.org. Archived from the original on November 16, 2025. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  14. ^ "Dr. George E. Smith". www.nae.edu. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
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