Charles Kao, Willard Boyle, and George Smith will share this year's Nobel Prize for physics. UK-based Kao is lauded for his work in helping to develop fibre optic cables, the slender tubes that carry data, such as telephone calls. Boyle and Smith, who work out of the US, are recognized for their part in the invention of the charged coupled device, or CCD. This is the light detector that lies at the heart of all digital cameras. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said half the prize would go to Kao, who is affiliated to Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in the British town of Harlow, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The academy said the honour was for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication. The other half is to be split between Boyle and Smith, both of Bell Laboratories at Murray Hill in the US sate of New Jersey, for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor. Laureates also receive a medal and a diploma. The Nobel Prizes – which also cover chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics – are valued at 10 million Swedish Kronor.<br/><br/>