THE 2009 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS (I) NOBEL COMMITTEE REWARDS RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY

摘要

The Nobel Prizes in Physics of 2009 have been awarded for two scientific developments that have a profound impact on both consumer technology and scientific research. Charles K. Kao of the Chinese University in Hong Kong was awarded the Nobel Prize "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for optical communication." The second half of the prize was awarded to two researchers from Bell Labs, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit, the CCD sensor." Although the importance of the rewarded work is evident, it came to many as a surprise. It was a surprise to Carlo Sequin, now at the College of Engineering at thernUniversity of California at Berkeley, and who joined Bell Labs after receiving his PhD and started work on the CCD. "My reaction was of absolute delight, I found out that the work we did was actually worth the Nobel Prize," says Sequin.