Michael Tompsett
Michael Francis Tompsett (born May 4, 1939 in England ) is a British electronics engineer, known for developing electronics for CCD sensors and thermal imaging cameras .
Tompsett studied physics and electrical engineering at Cambridge University with a bachelor's degree in 1962 and a master's degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering in 1966. After that, he was project manager for camera tubes at the Electric Valve Company (now e2v) in England until 1968. There he developed a RHEED system and a camera tube for thermal images that did not require cooling with liquid nitrogen and was based on pyroelectrics. His (patented) inventions were also the basis in the later semiconductor versions of thermal imaging cameras. 1969 to 1989 worked at the ATT Bell Laboratories , where he headed the CCD group (Data Conversion Design Group) in the 1970s. He developed the semiconductor circuits and analog-to-digital converters for the CCD cameras that are used in most of today's digital and smartphone cameras. In 1973 he and his group presented the first CCD color image, a picture of his wife that made the cover of Electronics Magazine.
From 1991 onwards he headed the Electron Devices Research Division of the US Army Research Lab as director for six years.
He is the founder and director of the software company TheraManager.
In 2012 he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation . In 2017 he and Eric Fossum , George Elwood Smith and Nobukazu Teranishi received the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for the development of digital image sensors . He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and received the IEEE Edison Medal in 2012 .
He is a fellow of the IEEE .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Birth and career dates for American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tompsett, Michael |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tompsett, Michael Francis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 4, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | England |