physics

George E. Smith

George E. Smith is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand George E. Smith rather than just read about it. In short: George Elwood Smith (May 10, 1930 – May 28, 2025) was an American applied physicist and a co-inventor of the charge-coupled device (CCD). Smith shared one half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willard Boyle "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor." Education George Elwood Smith was born on May 10, 1930, in White Plains, New York.

Key takeaways

George E. Smith belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect George E. Smith to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of George E. Smith from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

George Elwood Smith (May 10, 1930 – May 28, 2025) was an American applied physicist and a co-inventor of the charge-coupled device (CCD). Smith shared one half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willard Boyle "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor."

Education George Elwood Smith was born on May 10, 1930, in White Plains, New York. After serving in the United States Navy for four years and taking courses at the University of Miami, Smith qualified as a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania in 1952, graduating with a B.S. in 1955. He then became a teaching assistant at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in 1959 with a thesis on the anomalous skin effect in bismuth.

Career From 1959 until his retirement in 1986, Smith worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he led research into novel lasers and semiconductor devices. During his tenure, Smith was awarded dozens of patents and eventually headed the VLSI device department. In 1969, Smith and Willard Boyle invented the charge-coupled device (CCD), for which they have jointly received the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1973, the 1974 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the 2006 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Personal life and death Both Boyle and Smith were avid sailors who took many trips together. After retirement, Smith sailed around the world with his life partner, Janet, for seventeen years, eventually giving up his hobby in 2003 to "spare his 'creaky bones' from further storms". He resided in the Waretown section of Ocean Township, Ocean County, New Jersey. Smith died at his home in Barnegat Township, New Jersey, on May 28, 2025, at the age of 95.

Recognition

Awards

Memberships

Notes

References

External links

Invention Hall of Fame Biography Amateur Radio licensee Interview in Czech TV December 2013 (in English and Czech) George E. Smith on Nobelprize.org

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with George E. Smith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what George E. Smith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to George E. Smith before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about George E. Smith ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of George E. Smith

In research: George E. Smith appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses George E. Smith in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: George E. Smith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, 2025 deaths, 21st-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for George E. Smith outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study George E. Smith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what George E. Smith means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain George E. Smith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is George E. Smith in simple terms?

Why does George E. Smith matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study George E. Smith?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on George E. Smith.