A Japanese professor was among four researchers Wednesday to receive the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering for his contribution to the development of digital imaging sensors.
Nobukazu Teranishi, professor at Shizuoka University and the University of Hyogo, shares the £1 million prize with Eric Fossum and George Smith from the United States and Michael Tompsett from Britain.
Teranishi is the first Japanese to win the biennial prize for technological innovation, which was first awarded in 2013.
Teranishi was recognized for his invention of the modern pinned photodiode, which reduced the size of pixels and "significantly improved the quality of images," the prize organizer said.
The technological innovations "have radically changed the visual world," the organizer said.
"This engineering innovation is inspirational," Christopher Snowden, chair of the judging panel, said in a statement. "It is truly something that everyone can understand, and it has had a remarkable social impact worldwide."
