Born: August 19 , 1924
Place of Birth: Amherst, Nova Scotia
Major Notes:
Willard Boyle was the co-inventor of the Charge-Coupled Device which had a major impact on astronomy.
The CCD was key to advancing digital imaging technology, and can be found in most imaging devices including digital cameras, scanners, and satellite surveillance.
At three, Boyle's family moved to a Quebec logging community where his mother home-schooled him.
He went to high school in Montreal and then joined the Royal Canadian Navy in World War II.
After the war, Boyle attended McGill University and attained three degrees including his doctorate in physics.
In 1953, he joined Bell Labs in New Jersey as a research scientist.
Boyle and a co-worker, in 1962, invented the continuously operating ruby laser.
Soon afterwards, Boyle began working with Belcomm to give NASA technological support for the Apollo space program.
Two years later he returned to Bell Labs where he began working with electonic devices.
Boyle and another physicist, George Smith, worked on a theory they thought might work with handling charges in a silicon matrix.
After supporting their theory with mathematics, their finalized theory was met with initial skepticism .
Nevertheless, the lab was able to produce the device and Boyle presented a paper on the CCD at a New York conference.
The invention revolutionized the photography of outer space as it was used in the Hubble Space Telescope bringing dynamic images back to earth.
Boyle and Smith received numerous awards as their CDD was instrumental in many inventions including the video camera and the camcorder.
Willard Boyle has since retired and serves sometime on the Science Council of the Province of Nova Scotia.
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