Latest news with #BellLaboratories
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Science
- Boston Globe
George Smith, Nobel laureate who created a digital eye, dies at 95
Their work helped build 'the foundation to our modern information society,' Gunnar Oquist, the Nobel academy's secretary-general, said when it was announced that Mr. Smith and Boyle would share the 2009 prize for physics. (They split the award with Charles K. Kao, who was recognized for work that resulted in the development of fiber-optic cables.) Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Mr. Smith and Boyle had been trying to create better memory storage for computers when the idea for the CCD arose. They thought the photoelectric effect — which Albert Einstein had explained, an explanation that won him a 1921 Nobel Prize — might offer a solution. Advertisement The photoelectric phenomenon occurs when electromagnetic radiation, such as light, hits a metal surface, dislodging electrons from atoms and causing a current to flow through the metal. The device that Mr. Smith and Boyle created employs rows of tiny capacitors to store and transfer the electrical charge — essentially capturing light — and uses the information to construct an image. Advertisement It took them an hour, they later said, to come up with the concept and design. They wrote up the idea in a 1970 paper and filed a patent for it, which was registered in 1974. One of the great advantages of the device is that it distinguishes, measures and records almost every photon of light, making it possible to take far more precise and detailed photographs, particularly of intergalactic bodies, than had been possible with film. 'The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, or pixels, in a short time,' the Nobel committee said, adding that the two men's invention had 'transformed photography, as sight could now be captured electronically instead of on film.' Mr. Smith and Boyle's Nobel win was not without controversy. Michael F. Tompsett and Eugene I. Gordon, scientists who also worked at Bell Laboratories, claimed that they should receive at least equal credit for developing the CCD, as they were the ones who had demonstrated its implications for imaging. Mr. Smith and Boyle, they said, had set out to create a memory circuit, not a digital imaging device. A 1978 article in The New York Times would seem to back up that claim, at least in part, noting that Tompsett had patented technology that made it possible to build a video camera small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand. But that was four years after Mr. Smith and Boyle had patented their device, which is often credited with laying the groundwork for Tompsett's research. Advertisement Shortly after being awarded the Nobel, Mr. Smith told The Chronicle Herald, a Canadian newspaper, that he had 'documentation' that disproved Tompsett and Gordon's claims, adding that 'what they are saying is not at all logical.' George Elwood Smith was born May 10, 1930, in White Plains, New York, the eldest of four children of George and Lillian (Voorhies) Smith. His father, an insurance underwriter, was unhappy at work, and because of his job-hopping the family was constantly on the move. In a 2001 interview with the Engineering and Technology History Wiki website, Mr. Smith said that he grew up in seven states and attended nine elementary schools and five high schools. Following high school, he joined the Navy; he served for four years, partly during the Korean War, as an aerographer's mate, or weather forecaster. He went on to study mathematics, first at the University of Miami and then at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1955. He married Janet Carson the same year. He studied physics at the University of Chicago and received a doctorate in 1959, with a three-page dissertation on the electronic properties of semimetals. (At the time, it was the shortest doctoral dissertation in the history of the University of Chicago; still, it was accepted for publication in Physical Review, a prestigious scientific journal.) After graduating, Mr. Smith accepted a job in the research division of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, where he remained until he retired in 1986. Mr. Smith held 30 patents, including the one for the CCD, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The invention of the CCD brought him many awards in addition to the Nobel, including the Stuart Ballantine Medal from the Franklin Institute and the Charles Stark Draper Prize from the National Academy of Engineering. He also helped found Electron Device Letters, a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Advertisement Mr. Smith was an avid sailor, a passion he shared with his wife; after he was hired by Bell Laboratories, they bought a 19-foot sailboat, which they used on weekends. Janet Smith died in 1975, and two years later he began a relationship with Janet Murphy, a teacher who also loved sailing. Murphy died in 2020. In addition to Lanning, Mr. Smith is survived by two other children, Leslie Collins and Carson Smith; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Laura Hordeski and Nancy Bell. His brother, Stephen, died in 2015. When Mr. Smith retired, he and Murphy bought a 31-foot Southern Cross sailboat that they called Apogee and left their home in New Jersey to circumnavigate the world. Apart from a few short visits, they did not return to the United States until 2003. During those 17 years, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice and sailed through the Panama Canal. They explored the Galápagos Islands for a month and then sailed to Tahiti and the Cook Islands. They spent seven years sailing around New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, and then traveled to Indonesia, Thailand, across the Indian Ocean and through the Red and Mediterranean seas. As Mr. Smith told Soundings, an online sailing publication, in 2009, 'I wanted to go sailing long before I got into physics.' This article originally appeared in
New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
George E. Smith, Nobel Winner Who Created a Digital Eye, Dies at 95
George E. Smith, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing a revolutionary imaging device that has not only allowed scientists see the universe more clearly but has also made it possible for hundreds of millions of people to record every birthday and vacation for posterity, died on Wednesday at his home in Barnegat Township, N.J. He was 95. His death was confirmed by his daughter Lauren Lanning. It was while he was working at Bell Laboratories in 1969 that Dr. Smith and a colleague, Willard S. Boyle, came up with the idea for what is known as the charge-coupled device, or CCD — a technology that is an essential component of nearly every telescope, medical scanner, photocopier and digital camera in use today. Their work helped build 'the foundation to our modern information society,' Gunnar Oquist, the Nobel academy's secretary general, said when it was announced that Dr. Smith and Dr. Boyle would share the 2009 prize for physics. (They split the award with Charles K. Kao, who was recognized for work that resulted in the development of fiber-optic cables.) Dr. Smith and Dr. Boyle had been trying to create better memory storage for computers when the idea for the CCD arose. They thought the photoelectric effect — which Einstein had explained, an explanation that won him a 1921 Nobel Prize — might offer a solution. The photoelectric phenomenon occurs when electromagnetic radiation, such as light, hits a metal surface, dislodging electrons from atoms and causing a current to flow through the metal. The device that Dr. Smith and Dr. Boyle created employs rows of tiny capacitors to store and transfer the electrical charge — essentially capturing light — and uses the information to construct an image. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The National
05-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Skype hangs up after three decades, marking end to an iconic internet calling service
When Skype was released to the public on August 29, 2003, internet calling was costly and limited to those with the means to access it, and VoIP – voice over internet protocol – would not have rung a bell. It did not take long before that distinctive ring from a Skype call slowly took over, changing the game for internet communications. Its popularity was such that 'Skype' became a verb, much like how 'google' was to searching the web. About 22 years later, Skype makes its final call today, May 5, as its owner Microsoft folds it into its own Teams service. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft acknowledged Skype has been 'an integral part of shaping modern communications', and its retirement is meant to 'streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs', said Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps and Platform. It is yet another sad end to a once-dominant platform, probably falling victim to a cut-throat race in the technological age. Before VoIP – also known as internet protocol telephony – mobile or cellular calls required a SIM card. VoIP and Skype eliminated the need for that, as the technology required only an internet connection. The technology had its roots all the way back in 1925, when Bell Laboratories was formed to help AT&T's global communications. Three years later, Bell created Voder, the world's first electronic voice synthesiser. The other key component of VoIP, the internet itself, had its foundations laid in 1969 with the development of Arpanet, the internet's first building block. Several developments later – including fine tuning audio over the internet and improving connectivity – the first VoIP application, Rascal, was launched in 1989, as a means for gamers to talk to each other. Between this time and Skype's launch, two notable VoIP services surfaced: Teleport, considered the first video conferencing service with basic functionality that attracted the attention of Hilton Hotels, and VocalTec, the first commercial VoIP platform. Then, in 2003, Skype rang in a new era for VoIP communications. Skype went by a few names before it became how we know it: it was derived from Skype Peer-to-Peer, then shortened to Skyper, before ultimately dropping the 'r' to utilise available domains at the time. Its parent, Skype Technologies, was founded by Swede Niklas Zennstrom and Dane Janus Friis, while its software was developed by Toivo Annus, Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, all from Estonia. The platform quickly became famous for offering free voice calls between Skype users and paid ones to telephone numbers. It would eventually add video calls in 2006 on Windows, further cementing its place in internet communications. Its popularity soared that users even put it in their contact details, such as those in business cards and email signatures. Skype began as a start-up, raising $76.85 million through five funding rounds from 2003 to 2010 – beginning with a humble $250,000 and peaking at $50 million – according to data from industry tracker Crunchbase. In between, Skype's first ownership change happened, with e-commerce company eBay buying it for $2.5 billion in 2005. Skype founders Mr Zennstrom and Mr Friis would eventually leave and launch a new streaming video service, the short-lived Joost. But eBay eventually soured on Skype, losing millions and dealing with unprofitability (perhaps annoying ads are not such a bad idea). California-based eBay sold 70 per cent of Skype to a group led by Silver Lake Partners, but not before a lawsuit was filed by Skype's founders over intellectual property copyrights. In 2010, Skype announced plans to go public and raise as much as $1 billion – and this is where things took a strange turn: the company delayed its initial public offering, and it was believed that the IPO plans were just a smokescreen to put the business up for sale. Facebook and Google, still in their infancies, reportedly made bids to value Skype at as much as $4 billion. But all went for naught as Microsoft swooped in and acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011. At its peak, Skype boasted about 300 million users. But, just like how the internet helped propel it into the mainstream, advancements and competition in the World Wide Web also caused its slow decline. At this point, Microsoft – long the ruler of global technology – was now facing challenges from several fronts, including Apple's resurgence and Google's emergence, both of which were changing computing and consumer preferences. While Microsoft did hold its ground – it was increasing its cloud and services game – acquiring Skype would enable it to tap into the growing communications scene. In 2017, Microsoft unveiled Teams. While it was not clear yet at the time if Teams was meant to replace or knock off Skype, both platforms had their own unique propositions, at least according to Microsoft: Skype was meant for home and small business users for up to 20 people, with Skype for Business up to 250, while Teams offered as much as 10,000 and other advanced features such as enterprise-grade security. There are still a number of countries where Skype is blocked – the UAE included – owing to concerns over security and privacy, as well as licensing issues. However, VPNs, or virtual private networks, can provide access to it. In February, Microsoft finally announced that it was retiring Skype. At this point, Skype was not the force it was: at its peak, it boasted as much as 405 million users in 2008, but had since steadily declined, owing to the emergence of other platforms such as Google Meet, Apple's FaceTime, WhatsApp from Facebook that has since become Meta Platforms and other social media apps, and, most notably Zoom, which shot to popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Teams itself had a hand in Skype's dwindling numbers. In 2020, Microsoft said Skype had about 40 million users, and the latest figures as of 2023 showed that that was down to 36 million. Teams, in contrast, shot up to about 300 million. Microsoft says the folding of Skype was done to 'streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs'. Teams users, anyway, will still have access to many of Skype's core features, in addition to the former's more advanced services. Microsoft has pledged to make the Skype-to-Teams transition easy. But for the old heads who were able to witness what could be considered the dawn of mass video conferencing, that distinctive Skype tune will forever ring a (free call) bell.
National Geographic
13-02-2025
- Business
- National Geographic
Severance is filmed in a real office building—one that reimagined corporate life
In the hit Apple TV series Severance, the microchip-bearing employees of Lumon Industries traverse the eerie halls of a massive office building that serves as a kind of corporate hell. The hallways are sterile and seemingly infinite—and the departments spread so far apart that employees need maps to find each other. But that imposing building isn't a Hollywood soundstage: It's filmed at the real-life Bell Laboratories complex in Holmdel, New Jersey, one of the last works by famed architect Eero Saarinen. Reimagining the workplace Bell Labs is iconic as both an homage to the mid-century modernist aesthetic and as home to innovations that helped reshape the American workplace.
