The Nobel Prize 2009 Digital Imaging
The Nobel Prize 2009 and Digital Imaging
Jan 18, 2015
The inventors of the CCD generated a lot of creative destruction in the camera industry.
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The Nobel Prize 2009
Digital Imaging
On the 6th of October it was announced that Nobel Prize in Physics will be received by…
... Charles Kao, WillardBoyle and George Smith.
Boyle and Smith received it for inventing
the Charged CoupledDevice (CCD).
... Charles Kao, WillardBoyle and George Smith.
Boyle and Smith received it for inventing
the Charged CoupledDevice (CCD).
The CCD is the image sensor that is used in
digital cameras.
... Charles Kao, WillardBoyle and George Smith.
Boyle and Smith received it for inventing
the Charged CoupledDevice (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 saythat 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 demolishedseveral 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 couldnot 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.
Bottom line for Hasselblad (MSEK)
When Smith’s and Boyle’s invention reachedsufficient performance levels, Hasselblad was
nearly extinguished.
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 whilephotographing 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 photojournalism 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.
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.orgchristian.sandstrom at chalmers.se
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