Back in 1969, Williard S. Boyle and George E. Smith sat down during a Bell Labs brain storming session and came up with the idea for a CCD. A small, silicon sensor that acts as the eye for digital cameras. Some time later in 1981, the first CCD appeared in a camera which then spawned the first ever all digital camera in 1995.

Today, Boyle and Smith are looked upon as digital imaging pioneers and have been award for their hard work. In fact, they were just awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their word with the CCD.

While the CCD is used in consumer/professional digital cameras it is also a vital discovering in other fields such as astronomy and medicine.

via macworld