The drawing that show's Sasson's digital camer is in the upper part of the sheet.
First page of drawings from Sasson's patent. The drawing that show's Sasson's digital camer is in the upper part of the sheet.
photograph of Sasson's digital camera prototype.
Sasson's digital camera prototype.
Detail map of Rochester, New York, United States Overview map of Rochester, New York, United States

A: Rochester, New York, United States

Stephen Sasson of Eastman Kodak Invents the Digital Camera

12/1975
Steven Sasson holding the original digital camera prototype
Steven Sasson holding the original digital camera prototype.

In December 1975 American electrical engineer Stephen J. Sasson of the Eastman Kodak Company invented the digital camera using a charge-coupled device.

"He [Sasson] set about constructing the digital circuitry from scratch, using oscilloscope measurements as a guide. There were no images to look at until the entire prototype — an 8-pound (3.6-kilogram), toaster-size contraption — was assembled. In December 1975, Sasson and his chief technician persuaded a lab assistant to pose for them. The black-and-white image, captured at a resolution of .01 megapixels (10,000 pixels), took 23 seconds to record onto a digital cassette tape and another 23 seconds to read off a playback unit onto a television. Then it popped up on the screen.

" 'You could see the silhouette of her hair,' Sasson said. But her face was a blur of static. She was less than happy with the photograph and left, saying 'You need work,' he said. But Sasson already knew the solution: reversing a set of wires, the assistant's face was restored" (Wikipedia article on Stephen J. Sasson, accessed 04-22-2009).

In 1978, Sasson and his supervisor Gareth A. Lloyd were issued US Patent 4,131,919 for their digital camera.

 

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