Through the Eyes of Genius

BY MIKE ANGELL

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 2/28/2006

A demanding boss is a bane to most workers. But for Willard Boyle, that demanding boss was a springboard.

Boyle's boss was Jack Morton, vice president of electronics technology for AT&T's storied research unit, Bell Labs. Boyle headed its work in semiconductors and transistors.

Morton called Boyle one day in October 1969 asking what he was working on. Unsatisfied with Boyle's answer, Morton said another Bell Labs' unit was doing interesting things. Why couldn't Boyle come up with something interesting?

His boss' prodding got to Boyle. Determined not to be left behind in the innovation arena, Boyle and his colleague, George Smith, got to work.

Their drive led them to come up with one of the most important inventions of the century: the charge-coupled device, or CCD. The CCD is the heart behind digital cameras and video recorders, space-based telescopes and satellites, and medical imaging devices.

Boyle says a combination of many factors helped propel him in his many achievements: the ability to think freely, a nurturing of his intellectual curiosity, a collaborative working environment where ideas were shared, and even hurdles sometimes presented by colleagues.

"Having the freedom to pursue ideas was very important to me," Boyle said in a recent IBD interview.

Early Lessons

Boyle spent his childhood in a remote logging town in Quebec where, during the winters, the only way to get around was by dog sled. The cold, bleak winters of that town helped forge Boyle's determination. He had to wake up in the middle of pitch-black, wintry nights to go feed the sled dogs in their kennel. The utter blackness terrified Boyle, but someone had to feed the dogs, so he had to soldier on.

His mother home-schooled Boyle until high school. Even though his lessons were only an hour a day, Boyle's mother made them count. She provided him with most any book he wanted. After reading, his mother held discussion sessions to talk about what he learned and what new things he wanted to explore in subsequent books.

Boyle found inspiration in his reading. He credits scientist and author Lancelot Hogben with first stimulating his interest in science. Hogben's books on math and science were written clearly and applied the fields' abstract ideas to everyday phenomenon.
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