Winners of the £1m Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering announced

The prize was awarded for three technologies that make up the foundation of modern digital imaging.

Four engineers responsible for the creation of digital imaging sensors have been awarded the £1 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.  

Engineers Eric Fossum (USA), George Smith (USA), Nobukazu Teranishi (Japan) and Michael Tompsett (UK) were announced as the winners for their combined contribution to digital imaging.

The prize was awarded for three technologies spanning three decades, which have “radically changed the visual world”; the charge coupled device (CCD), the pinned photodiode (PPD) and the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. These kinds of digital imaging sensors have enabled high-speed, low-cost colour imaging at a resolution and sensitivity that can far exceed that of the human eye and has helped to transform medical treatments, science, personal communication and entertainment. The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering organisers said: “Thanks to this series of engineering innovations, today’s cameras can fit on a fingertip and are found in countless portable devices around the world.”

The CCD – developed in the 1970s by George Smith and Willard Boyle (now deceased) and later used in imaging by Michael Tompsett – is an image sensor found inside early digital cameras that converts individual particles of light, or photons, into an electrical signal. The charge is then converted into a binary digital form by an analogue-to-digital converter, and the image is stored as digital data. 

Originally intended for use in computer memory, Tompsett recognised the imaging potential, inventing the imaging semiconductor circuit, complete with analogue-to-digital converter.  The following decade, Nobukazu Teranishi invented the PPD, which reduced the size of light-capturing ‘pixels’ and significantly improved the quality of images. The development of the CMOS sensor by Eric Fossum in 1992 allowed cameras to be made smaller, cheaper and with better battery life.

Professor Christopher Snowden, chair of the judging panel, said: “We chose this innovation to win the QEPrize this year because it epitomises what the prize stands for. Everyone around the world, especially young people, understands the importance of images. This engineering innovation is inspirational, it is truly something that everyone can understand, and it has had a remarkable social impact worldwide.”

Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation Lord Browne of Madingley said: “The 2017 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is awarded to four engineers who have revolutionised the way we capture and analyse visual information. The spirit of international collaboration which drives the work of George Smith, Michael Tompsett, Nobukazu Teranishi and Eric Fossum encapsulates perfectly the ideals of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. In honouring them we hope to inspire the next generation of engineers to continue to push back the frontiers of the possible.”

The winners of the innovation will be formally honoured in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace later this year, and along with the £1 million prize, each will receive an iconic trophy. The 2017 trophy was selected through the international Create the Trophy competition, and was designed by 15-year-old Samuel Bentley, from Wales.