STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Three physicists were recognized for accomplishments in their field, sharing the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics, the Nobel Foundation in Sweden said.
Charles Kao, retired from Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow, England, and Chinese University of Hong Kong, earned half of the award "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication," the foundation said in a news release.
Willard Boyle and George Smith, both of Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J., received the other half of the prize for "the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit -- the CCD sensor," the foundation said.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2009 prize for two achievements that helped shape the foundations of modern-day networked societies, Nobel officials said.
In 1966, Kao had a breakthrough in fiber optics, calculating how to transmit light over long distances through optical glass fibers. Kao's work led other researchers explore the future potential of fiber optics, fabricating the first ultrapure fiber four years later.
In 1969, Boyle and Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a charge-coupled device that uses the photoelectric effect of transforming light into electric signals, the foundation said. The CCD is the digital camera's electronic eye, revolutionizing photography by capturing light electronically instead of on film. CCD technology also is used in medical applications.
Kao, a British and U.S. citizen, was director of engineering at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in England and vice chancellor at Chinese University of Hong Kong before retiring in 1996.
Boyle, a Canadian and U.S. citizen, was executive director of the communication sciences division at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J. before he retired in 1979.
Smith, a U.S. citizen, led the very-large-scale integration device department at Bell Laboratories before retiring in 1986.
