Inventor of the Digital Camera

In 1974, a supervisor at Kodak’s Rochester, N.Y. research laboratory gave Steven Sasson a “very open-ended task”: to explore potential applications of a new technology recently developed elsewhere. Tinkering with spare parts and inexpensive electronics, he produced an eight pound aluminum box, about the size of a bread box, that took pictures electronically. His first test image portrayed a piece of black and white cardboard. Mr. Sasson received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor the United States awards to scientists, engineers and inventors. He is in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.