October 6, 2009

experts comment on the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2009

This year’s prize for Physics went to Chinese-born British resident Charles Kao, for his work on the transmission of light over long distances through fibre optic cables. Two Americans, Willard Sterling Boyle and George Smith, shared the other half of the prize for inventing the charged-coupled device, which is today used in products such as digital cameras and surgical instruments.

On Kao:

Lord Drayson, Science Minister, said:

“I am delighted to congratulate Charles K. Kao on this tremendous achievement. This is a proud day for Charles and for the whole country. His achievements in fibre optic technology have transformed the way the world communicates, entertains and does business.

“This prize demonstrates the immense contribution UK researchers bring to science. I also hope it inspires the next generation of scientists to follow in Charles’s footsteps and take up the challenge of securing our world lead in science and technology.”

Prof Sir Peter Knight, Senior Principal at Imperial College London, said:

“I am delighted that Kao has been recognised in this way. Kao was the first to understand the impurities in glass and how to get rid of them. He had already spotted the communications opportunities, and therefore the great distances light could travel, while others were still thinking in metres. He was a revolutionary and his work is a fine example of how fundamental research can have a massive impact on our everyday lives.”

On Boyle and Smith:

Prof Andy Fabian, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, said:

“CCDs are the backbone of modern astronomy. They let professional and even amateur astronomers see objects throughout the Universe with a sensitivity to light that would have been unthinkable even three decades ago. And in a perfect example of ‘spin-off’ CCDs are now familiar in everyday life – in bespoke digital cameras and even mobile phones.”

Prof Martin Barstow, Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Leicester, said:

“The invention of the CCD has had a major impact on all our lives, revolutionising our ability to record, process and share images. From YouTube to the Hubble Space Telescope: these devices are now at the heart of our digital video and still cameras and underpin the extraordinary progress made in astronomy during the past 20-30 years.”

On both:

Dr Robert Kirby-Harris, Chief Executive at the Institute of Physics (IOP), said:

“Ours is the age of information and images and no two things better symbolise this than the internet and digital cameras. From kilobytes to gigabytes, and now to petabytes and exabytes, information has never been so free-flowing or, with the development of CCD, so instantly visual. These incredible inventors who have been responsible for transforming the world in which we live very much deserve their prize.”