He studied
physics at the
University of Cambridge and also completed an engineering PhD there (1962–66). Tompsett built a
reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) system to study surfaces. While at English Electric Valve (EEV), he built the first ultra-high-vacuum RHEED system with in-situ deposition to study the structures of thin-films of lead oxide as they were deposited. This understanding was needed to make
Plumbicon television camera-tubes. He consulted with VacGen (now VG Scienta) to make a commercial system, the first of which was sold to
IBM Labs. In 1968 while still at EEV, Tompsett invented the un-cooled Pyro-electric thermal-imaging camera tube. He also invented a solid-state version, which is now the basis for thermal imagers made today. These imagers are used with great impact by the military for night-vision, by firefighters to see through smoke, and for other search-and-rescue and civilian uses worldwide. In 1969, he moved to
New Jersey with his wife, and joined
AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he helped to make the first charge-coupled device (CCD), and led development of CCDs. He exploited the device’s potential for digital imaging and, together with his team, developed a series of CCD cameras and produced the first pixel CCD colour image in 1972. It was a picture of his wife and made the cover of
Electronics Magazine. In 1979, he pioneered the development of the first,
integrated circuit, data modem using Metal Oxide Semiconductor (
MOSFET) silicon switched-capacitor filters, and a patented Automatic Gain Control circuit. This was the first mixed analog-digital integrated circuit/system to go into manufacture. This technology has now grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. In the 1980s Tompsett applied himself to finding a solution to a major challenge to reduce the size, power, and cost of digitizing video signals from imagers and scanners. He invented an integrated, two-step recycling video analog-digital converter. After taking early retirement from Bell Labs in 1989, he joined the
US Army as Director of Electron Device Research for six years. In 2010 the US Government awarded him the
National Medal of Technology and Innovation, its highest honor for engineers and inventors. In 2016, he was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering for the design and development of the first charge-coupled device imagers. == Technical accomplishments ==