Nobels Are a Digital Cornerstone of Economic Innovation
Mel Schiavelli
President, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
October 15, 2009

If you love YouTube and viral videos then join with Bell Labs to celebrate the awarding of the 2009 Nobel prize for physics to former Bell Lab researchers Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith.

Every website on the Internet that relies on videos should send champagne to the winners.

Boyle and Smith worked at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J. before retiring. Their invention of the charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors enabled the creation of cheap, reliable digital cameras, cell phone cameras and in most of the high-end telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Simply put, Boyle and Smith built a sensor that allowed the creation of digital images quickly and cheaply. Boyle and Smith developed a way to read out all the pixels in order, creating a tidy digital stream of data suitable for broadcasting or computer manipulation. The result was the digital camera and hours of amusing videos on YouTube.

The fastest CCD video cameras can take 100,000 pictures per second. Medical equipment such as breast biopsy machines and dental x-ray machines use CCDs originally developed for astronomical imaging.

The Nobel Prize announcement to the former Bell Lab researchers also highlights the value of science and technology to every day life. This invention has changed politics, news reporting, marketing, communications, medicine, law enforcement, education, and the military.

While the rise of digital film created new opportunities and industries, it also destroyed large established businesses. Consider how digital photography impacted Polaroid and Eastman Kodak. The companies had to switch product lines, eliminating thousands of jobs. The contraction also meant new directions. For example, from 2004 through 2007, Kodak spent $3.4 billion converting the bulk of its 129-year-old business from high-margin film to electronic technology. That means new jobs, new growth and the need for new skills.

Boyle and Smith’s discovery highlights how science and technology advances do not operate in a vacuum and are a reminder that the impact is felt far beyond the confines of beakers and physics problems in a lab.

The amazing things science and technology long promised are now essential to our daily lives and the outcomes are keys to driving new industries and opportunities. Math, science and technology are fundamental to an ever-widening range of careers in nearly every sector, from technology and research to business, teaching, health, community development, and human services. Additionally, even traditional non-science jobs require a more robust understanding of basic science and technology so people educated in any major will need to have a stronger grounding in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

The 2009 Nobels provided a snapshot on the commercial potential that innovation in the lab can bring. The “Edisons” of this century are relying less and less on trial and error and more and more on a solid grounding in the application of the principles of science and technology for the marketplace. With the country facing economic and security challenges, these winners are a reminder that the U.S. must continue to invest in the next generation of discoverers if we want to reap the benefits from the next discoveries.