Born-August 19, 1924
Amherst, Nova Scotia
Died-May 7, 2011 (aged 86)
Wallace, Nova Scotia [1]
Residence-Canada
Citizenship-Canada
Fields-Applied physics
Institutions-Bell Labs
Alma mater-McGill University
Lower Canada College
Known for-Charge-coupled device
Notable awards-IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award
Draper Prize Nobel Prize in Physics (2009)
Boyle was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in developing the charge-coupled device, or CCD, a component that converts light or other inputs into digital data and is found in everything from cameras to bar-code scanners to telescopes. Boyle was born in Amherst, N.S., before moving to Quebec, where he was raised. An air force pilot in the Second World War, Boyle joined Bell as an engineer and, with his colleague, George Smith, developed the CCD, for which the two were honoured with the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics. Boyle also developed a laser used in CD players and helped NASA select the spot for the moon landing in 1969.