Kodak Innovator To Receive Germany’s Highest Imaging Honor

German Photographic Society will present Steve Sasson with Cultural Award for inventing world’s first digital camera

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 24 -- Kodak’s Steve Sasson, inventor of the world’s first digital camera, will accept Germany’s highest honor for imaging, the Cultural Award, from the German Photographic Society (DGPh) at a September 27th ceremony in Cologne. The ceremony takes place during Photokina, the world’s largest photo and imaging trade fair.

The DGPh, with over 1,000 members, has represented the cultural interests of photography in Germany since its founding in 1951.

“The board of the DGPh unanimously decided to honor Steve Sasson with the Cultural Award for his epic-making invention of the first digital camera,” said Dr. Ulrich Nickel, President, German Photographic Society. “Virtually all digital images today, from still cameras to camera phones, are based on this Kodak development.”

Professor Gottfried Jäger, the ceremony’s laudatory speaker added, “His groundbreaking invention marks a watershed in the technical production and handling of images in our time.”

Sasson’s pioneering work began in 1975 and the technology employed for producing the first digital camera, using a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor, was patented in 1978.

“Steve Sasson’s visionary work changed the way people around the world take pictures and is the foundation for all of today’s digital cameras,” said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eastman Kodak Company. “This great honor for Steve underscores the spirit of innovation embraced by our entire technical team, whose contributions continue to make Kodak a world leader in the development of groundbreaking imaging technology.”

The Cultural Award has been presented since 1959 to recognize outstanding service to photography in the arts, humanitarian, social, technical, educational or scientific fields. Previous award winners include internationally renowned scientists, inventors, writers, publishers, editors, lecturers, art directors and photographers.

This is the sixth recognition Sasson has received for his work on the first digital camera. Last year he was inducted into the U.S. Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame and also received the Visionary Award from the Photographic Manufacturers and Distributors Association (2007), the Distinguished Scholar Award from Peking University’s School of Journalism and Communication (2006), the Progress Award form the Photographic Society of America (2006), and Kodak’s Eastman Innovation Award (2001).

Sasson is the fourth Kodak researcher to be honored with the Cultural Award. Previous Kodak recipients were Dr. Leopold Godowsky in 1973, Dr. Wesley T. Hanson in 1977, and Dr. Paul B. Gilman in 1989.

Kodak will feature a two-part interview with Steve Sasson on their PluggedIn blog starting today at http://pluggedin.kodak.com as well as a podcast under Technology Briefs at http://kodak.com/go/podcast.

Source: Kodak