(L to R) Michael F. Tompsett, Eric R. Fossum and Nobukazu Teranishi

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Four engineers and IEEE fellows have had their work recognized by royalty. George E. Smith, Michael F. Tompsett, Nobukazu Teranishi and Eric R. Fossum have been awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for their work on digital cameras.

Smith and Tompsett were recognized for the charge coupled device (CCD) imager, which was first created in 1969. Teranishi received the award for his improvements to CCD with the invention of pinned photodiode. Fossum joined them for inventing the CMOS imager, which succeeded the CCD in most applications.

As part of the award, the quartet earned a prize on £1 million.