The Noble Prize 2009
Digital Imaging

On the 6th of October it was announced that
Noble Prize in Physics will be received by…

... Charles Kao, Willard
Boyle and George Smith.
Boyle and Smith
received it for inventing
the Charged Coupled
Device (CCD).

... Charles Kao, Willard
Boyle and George Smith.
Boyle and Smith
received it for inventing
the Charged Coupled
Device (CCD).
The CCD is the image
sensor that is used in
digital cameras.

... Charles Kao, Willard
Boyle and George Smith.
Boyle and Smith
received it for inventing
the Charged Coupled
Device (CCD).
The CCD is the image
sensor that is used in
digital cameras.
Hence, they received the
prize for having invented
digital imaging.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say
that they sparked a revolution.

The research performed by Boyle and Smith
popularized photography in a way that
no one could have imagined.

While digital imaging has created a lot of value, the
innovation has also destroyed entire companies.

In Rochester (NY), Kodak has demolished
several buildings that were rendered obsolete
with the shift to digital imaging.

Konica left the industry after
trying to survive through a
merger with Minolta.

In Munich, Germany,
AgfaPhoto was
demolished.

Polaroid is also resting in peace.

Many old companies with a
competence in precise mechanics
failed to renew their skills and could
not keep up with the pace of
development.

The legendary Leica company has balanced at
the brink of bankruptcy for many years now.

The Swedish Hasselblad camera received cult status
after it had been used on the moon in 1969.

When Smith’s and Boyle’s invention reached
sufficient performance levels, Hasselblad was
nearly extinguished.
Bottom line for Hasselblad (MSEK)

The company’s competence was primarily related to
mechanics and therefore, a lot of the competitive advantage
was lost with the shift to digital imaging.

While we take digital imaging for granted today, its journey
from Boyle and Smith’s invention to the collapse of
Kodak’s film business has been long and bumpy.

The CCD was originally intended as a kind of memory, but
turned out to be better suited for other purposes.

Digital imaging was superior to photographic
plates when it came to gazing at distant
planets and galaxies.

Some of the first applications of
digital imaging back in the
1970s were used in outer space.

The Viking Lander 1 took the first picture from
the surface of Mars on July 20 1976.

About 4500 images were taken and many of
them are so good they’re still used today.

In 1979, Emory Kristof used an electronic camera while
photographing life at the bottom of the ocean.

"It sounds like it (the digital camera) could
give us more speed, more time to do the
selection and cropping of photographs and
less time just doing the technical production
of it.“
// Ralph Langer, Dallas Morning News 1984

The technology was increasingly used in photo
journalism during the 1980s and 1990s.

Then came the revolution…

… Which turned the entire industry upside down…

… Smith and Boyle’s invention
generated a revolution…

… and a lot of Creative Destruction.

The CCD became a pretty good illustration of how new
technologies create industrial turmoil in society.

Image attributions

Christian Sandström is a
PhD student at Chalmers
University of Technology in
Gothenburg, Sweden. He
writes and speaks about
disruptive innovation and
technological change.
www.christiansandstrom.org
christian.sandstrom at chalmers.se