Electronics · Recorded milestone
CCD image sensor
Recorded year1969
Boyle and Smith at Bell Labs invent the charge-coupled device, the chip that later captures images in digital cameras and telescopes.
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Led to
- Omni-font OCRRecorded · 1974enables
- Digital cameraRecorded · 1975enables
- Video camcorderRecorded · 1983enables
- Commercial stereo satelliteRecorded · 1986enables
- Hyperspectral imagingRecorded · 1987enables
- Hubble Space TelescopeRecorded · 1990enables
- Pocket digital cameraRecorded · 1990enables
- Adaptive opticsRecorded · 1991enables
- CMOS image sensorRecorded · 1993enables
- Planet around a Sun-like starRecorded · 1995enables
- Accelerating universeRecorded · 1998enables
- Face recognition on CCTVRecorded · 1998enables
- Robotic surgeryRecorded · 2000enables
- Human genome sequencedRecorded · 2003requires
- Next-gen sequencingRecorded · 2005enables
- Super-resolution microscopyRecorded · 2006enables
- Warehouse robotsRecorded · 2006requires
- Kepler planet hunterRecorded · 2009enables
- Biometric national IDRecorded · 2010requires
- AI recycling robotsRecorded · 2011requires
- Deep learning breakthroughRecorded · 2012requires
- Glare-free matrix headlightsRecorded · 2013enables
- Fully robotic farmsRecorded · 2017requires
- Lights-out warehousesRecorded · 2018requires
- Moving 3D map of the Milky WayRecorded · 2018enables
- Robot avatar sightseeingRecorded · 2020requires
- Autonomous farm robotsRecorded · 2022requires
- Whole fly-brain connectomeRecorded · 2024requires
- Vera Rubin ObservatoryRecorded · 2025enables
- Infrared asteroid-hunting telescopeForecast · ~2027enables
- Self-driving wheelchairsForecast · ~2031requires
Sources & evidence
Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.