'Masters of Light' Share Nobel in Physics

Wall Street Journal ^ | OCTOBER 7, 2009 | GAUTAM NAIK

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From left to right: Charles Kao, Willard Boyle and George Smith. (Reuters)

Three scientists who harnessed the power of light in ways that turned the Internet into a global phenomenon and launched the digital-camera revolution were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Charles Kao, who was born in Shanghai and has both U.K. and U.S. citizenships, received half the total prize money of $1.4 million. Dr. Kao was lauded for a breakthrough that led to fiber-optic cables, the thin glass threads that carry a vast chunk of the world's phone and data traffic.

The other half of the prize is shared by Willard Boyle and George Smith of Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., for work that led to the charge-coupled device. The CCD sensor turns light into electrical signals and eliminates the need for capturing images on film, a far more cumbersome and expensive approach. Drs. Smith and Boyle are American; Dr. Boyle also holds Canadian citizenship.

The Nobel committee described the three physicists as "masters of light."

Optical fibers, developed in the 1950s, had great theoretical potential. Because light has a very high frequency, it can carry a lot more data than microwaves or radio waves, which have much lower frequencies. However, there was a big hurdle: Impurities in the glass fibers of the time absorbed much of the light. For every meter traveled, about 20% of the light was lost.

In 1966, Dr. Kao, while working at Standard Telephones & Cables' laboratory in Harlow, England, tackled this problem.

"His insight was that if you could get rid of the impurities, you could transmit light over many kilometers," says Jeff Scheck, who authored a history of fiber optics in 1999.

[Our man in washington]

All three of these geniuses did their work in private industry. Take that, socialists!

[mountainlion]

Didn’t Owl Gore get an honorable mention?

[grey_whiskers]

When do the people who invented spam emails and porn-popups get their IgNoble prize?

Cheers!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

That made the internet and Digital cameras possible...and the Hubble space telescope.

[grey_whiskers]

Like, *PING*, dudes.

[martin_fierro]

Meanwhile, over at the Ig Nobel Awards...

[Jacquerie]

These three did more for the good of society than every rat congressman, senator or president these past 70 years. This is the sort of people that should be lauded, not the likes of the Pig Kennedy (D-Hell)

[SES1066]

Three USofA Citizens although 2 of them had 'shared' citizenships, Kao with the UK and Boyle with Canada.

Fiber Optics alone caused Paul Ehrlich to lose a bit of money and prestige. Until Fiber Optics came along, the cheapest information transmission were made of copper. In 1980 Julian Simon bet Paul Ehrlich that the price 5 commodities (selected by Ehrlich), including copper, would drop rather than significantly increase as Paul Ehrlich (Population Bomb) predicted. Ehrlich conceded in 1990 and paid a check of $500+ that was the inflation adjusted price drop over the decade.

I thank the other two for my digital camera that cannot function without 'Charge Coupled Devices' (CCDs). As difficult as it is to believe, Kodak made the very FIRST Digital Camera. The fact that my current camera is a Canon speaks to their success.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Is that a soft touch by the “Misstress of Light”?

(Gabz wonders why she was pinged to this thread.)
(WhyisaTexasgirlinPAwearingpinkundies?)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the pings!