Steven Sasson - Inventor Of Digital Camera

Steven J. Sasson (born July 4, 1950) is an American electrical engineer and the inventor of the digital camera. Sasson is a 1972 (BS) and 1973 (MS) graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in electrical engineering. He attended and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School.

First digital camera

Steven Sasson invented the first digital camera at Eastman Kodak in 1975. It weighed 8 pounds (3.6 kg) and had only 0.01 megapixels. The image was recorded onto a cassette tape and this process took 23 seconds. His camera took images in black-and-white. As he set out on this project of the electronic camera, what he envisioned for the future was a camera without mechanical moving parts.

Life and career

Sasson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Ragnhild Tomine (Endresen) and John Vincent Sasson. His mother was Norwegian. His invention began in 1975 with a broad assignment from his supervisor at Eastman Kodak Company, Gareth A. Lloyd: to attempt to build an electronic camera using a charge coupled device (CCD). The resulting camera invention was awarded U.S. Patent 4,131,919. Sasson now works to protect the intellectual capital of his employer, Eastman Kodak Company.

On November 17, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama awarded Sasson the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. This is the highest honor awarded by the US government to scientists, engineers, and inventors. On 6 September 2012 The Royal Photographic Society awarded Sasson its Progress Medal and Honorary Fellowship "in recognition of any invention, research, publication or other contribution that has resulted in an important advance in the scientific or technological development of photography or imaging in the widest sense."

Leica Camera AG honored Sasson by presenting to him a limited edition 18-megapixel Leica M9 Titanium camera (engraved with the serial number = 4,000,000) during photokina 2010.

Sasson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011.

Patents

• U.S. Patent 4,131,919 Patent â€" Electronic Still camera

References

External links

• The Dawn of Digital Photography - interview with Steven Sasson on the invention of the digital camera
• Disruptive Innovation: The Story of the First Digital Camera, lecture by Steven Sasson at the Linda Hall Library (October 26, 2011)