At 7pm on Tuesday, March 3, electrical engineer and inventor Steven Sasson brought an exciting moment to the end of winter term on campus as he spoke to a crowd of students, faculty, and visitors gathered in the Nott. The latest installment in the annual Steinmetz Memorial Lecture series, started in 1925 to honor the legacy of innovative electrical engineer and Schenectady resident Charles Steinmetz, this talk continued Union’s long held tradition of bringing renowned scientists and engineers onto campus to present to the public.
Sasson graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1973 with a MS in electrical engineering and was quickly employed in a research position at Kodak. He was assigned to examine if an electronic camera could be built using a commercially available invention known as a charged coupled device (CCD). This device is essentially a light-sensitive circuit, which acts as a sensor that converts light into electrical signals to capture precise digital images.
Using this technology, Sasson was able to develop the first prototype of a hand-held, battery powered digital camera in 1975. In contrast to the earliest versions of cameras, which used the chemical reaction between light and film to capture images, digital cameras use this electronic sensor to convert light into data, making photography significantly faster and easier to use.
Sasson’s digital camera was roughly 8 pounds and the size of a toaster, assembled from a movie camera lens, an analog-digital converter, a cassette tape, and many circuit boards and batteries. It was able to capture images using the CCD, convert the electronic signal it produced to a digital one, and store the resulting image. Pictures could then be viewed on a television screen. Today, this technology has made huge advances, with cell phone cameras and the ability to take photographs instantly used all over the world.
“It was a really interesting talk, and I especially liked hearing about how he reached where he is today as an engineer,” noted attendee and electrical engineering major Catie Amirault ‘27. Sasson was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama in 2009, holds 10 U.S. patents, and has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. His presence on Union’s campus offered an intriguing glimpse into scientific innovation, the history behind modern technology, and the impactful results that can arise from trying out a new idea.
