Personal Information:
Full name: Willard Sterling Boyle
Birth date: August 19, 1924
Nationality: Canadian
Education:
Though he saw no active service, Willard Boyle served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. Boyle later obtained his B.S. degree (1947), M.S. degree (1948) and Ph.D. (1950) from McGill University in Montreal.
Prominent Work:
In 1953, Boyle went to work at Bell Labs. In 1962, he worked with Don Nelson to invent the first continuously operating ruby laser. He was named on the first patent for a semiconductor injection laser. Also in 1962, he was made director of Bellcomm's (a Bell Labs subsidiary) Space Science and Exploratory Studies program, which provided support to the Apollo program. He returned to Bell Labs in 1964. In 1969, he worked with George E. Smith to develop charge-coupled devices. (See the Smith article for more info on this discovery.)
Awards:
- 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics
- 2006 Charles Stark Draper Prize
- 1974 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award
- 1973 Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal
