Four engineers scoop £1m Queen’s prize for work on digital imaging sensors

Michael Tompsett from the UK, Eric Fossum and George Smith from the US and Nobukazu Teranishi from Japan were awarded the £1 million prize for revolutionising the way visual information is captured and analysed.

We chose this innovation to win the QEPrize this year because it epitomises what the prize stands for

Christopher Snowden, chairman of the judging panel

The announcement was made by John Browne, a former group chief executive at oil and gas firm BP and current chairman of the QEPrize for Engineering Foundation.

Her Majesty the Queen will formally present the prize at Buckingham Palace later this year.

The prize was awarded for three innovations that have “radically changed the visual world”, the Foundation said.

They are: the charged couple device, the pinned photodiode and the complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor.

Christopher Snowden, chairman of the judging panel, said: “A picture is a universal form of communication. It can be shared instantly with anyone around the world, no matter what language they speak. We chose this innovation to win the QEPrize this year because it epitomises what the prize stands for.”

In 2015, chemical engineer Robert Langer won the award, most notably for his revolutionary work on engineering polymers to control the delivery of large molecular weight drugs for the treatment of diseases such as cancer and mental illness.

David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband first introduced the prize in 2011. It is awarded every two years.