Videos

Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for their invention and development of the charge coupled device (CCD), a technology that transforms patterns of light into useful digital information. CCD technology is the basis for many forms of modern imaging, and is widely used in devices as diverse as digital cameras, video cameras, cell phones, PDAs and bar code readers as well as in security monitoring, medical endoscopy, modern astronomy and video conferencing. Learn more about the development of the charge coupled device (CCD) at Bell Labs.

Watch the first lightwave communications system take shape at Bell Labs.

Listen to Bell Labs' Howard Black talk about the birth of his invention, the negative feedback amplifier.

Watch the development and demonstration of the Bell Solar Battery.

Watch Bell Labs' Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie talk about the birth of UNIX.

Learn how Karl Jansky launched the field of radio astronomy through his work at Bell Labs.

Learn about Telstar I, a communications satellite built by Bell Labs and launched in 1962.

Listen to Bell Labs' Arno Penzias and Bob Wilson describe their discovery of evidence of the Big Bang.

Learn about the invention of the transistor, Bell Labs' most famous innovation.