As you've no doubt read, the inventors of the CCD- W. S. Boyle and G. G. Amelio- were just awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.  As with any development, nothing happens in a vacuum, and the history of digital photography owes a lot to what laid the foundation for this invention, and what followed it.  I've done some pretty geeky work before on the timeline of digital photography, but this award has pushed me to greater heights of geekdom. 
 

Take a trip down Memory Lane- starting with the development of the Integrated Circuit- the IC, in 1960, that would replace the vacuum tube and start the whole revolution.  I even found the point at which Moore's Law was first formed.  Supremely geeky stuff!
 

• 1960    Bell Labs developed the technique of Epitaxial Deposition whereby a single crystal layer of material is deposited on a crystalline substrate, widely used in bipolar and sub-micron CMOS fabrication.  
• 1960    Kahng at Bell Labs fabricates the first MOSFET.
• 1960    0.525 inch silicon wafers introduced
• 1961    Fairchild and Texas Instruments both introduce commercial ICs.
• 1962    Transistor-Transistor Logic invented
• 1962    Semiconductor industry surpasses $1-billion in sales
• 1963    RCA produces the first PMOS IC.
• 1963    Frank Wanlass at Fairchild Semiconductor originated and published the idea of complementary-MOS (CMOS).
• 1963    S. R. Morrison at Honeywell Co. devised a Photo Scanner, X-Y Addressed Silicon Junction Photo Sensing Device.
• 1964    J. W. Horton at IBM suggested the Scanister, a Solid-State Image Scanner.
• 1965    Gordon Moore, director of R/D at Fairchild Semiconductor wrote "Cramming more components onto integrated circuits". Moore observed that "The complexity for minimum component cost has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year". This became known as Moore's law. Moore's law was later amended to, "the number of components per IC doubles every 18 months". Moore's law holds true to this day.
• 1967    G. P. Wecker used p-n Junctions as Charge Integrating Photo Detectors.
• 1968    R. H. Dyck and G. P. Weckler P. K. Weimer suggested the First MOS Switched Type Solid State Image Sensor.
• 1970    W. S. Boyle and G. G. Amelio at Bell Lab. invented a new Efficient Signal Transporting Device, Charge Coupled Device.
• 1971    E. Arnold at Philips invented a Charge Injection Device Image Sensor which used MOS Capacitors as Photo Sensors.
• 1972    The first patent is filed for a filmless electronic camera by Texas Instruments.
• 1973    Frame Transfer Type CCD Image Sensor.(1/4" x 1/2" RCA Image Sensor with 120,000 Elements)
• 1973    Inter-line Transfer Type CCD Image Sensor.
• 1973    Interlaced Scanning Type CCD Image Sensor.
• 1975    The first recorded attempt at building a digital camera. The camera weighed 8 pounds, recorded black and white images to a cassette tape, had a resolution of 0.01 megapixel, and took 23 seconds to capture its first image.
• 1979    Suggestion of n-p-n layered photo diode with anti-blooming structure.
• 1979    Hitachi announced the First Commercial MOS Type Solid State Image Sensor with 320(H)X244(V) Pixels.
• 1979    Hitachi devised the Stacked Photo Sensor Type Solid State Image Sensor.
• 1981    Sony Introduces Mavica (Magnetic Video Camera) recording images as magnetic impulses on a compact two-inch still-video floppy disk
• 1982    Vertical Overflow Drain Structure.
• 1983    Mega-Vision develops world’s first commercial megapixel real-time image processor
• 1986    MegaVision introduces Tessera- a high-resolution 2000-line tube camera that also worked in conjunction with the 1024XM- the first digital camera to be used in commercial photographic applications.
• 1986    Kodak scientists invent the world’s first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels that could produce a 5×7-inch digital photo-quality print.
• 1988    Canon XapShot- (Ted sees electronic, albeit analog, camera for first time, lusts.)
• 1989    GoldStar Electron Co. developed 1/2" IT-CCD Image Sensor.
• 1990    Logitech's Dycam Model 1 B/W digicam, the world's first completely digital consumer camera
• 1990    Kodak shows a hacked Nikon body with a Kodak sensor at Photokina called the DCS. It was 1 MP and cost $25,000
• 1991     Kodak presents the DSC 100, which is considered the first useful digital camera for general sale. The 1.3-megapixel camera retails at $20,000.
• 1992    Kodak introduces the photo CD. Leaf introduces DCB camera back.
• 1994    The CompactFlash memory card is introduced
• 1994    The Apple QuickTake 100 is the first consumer-oriented color digital camera that worked with a home computer via a serial cable.
• 1995    The first consumer camera with a liquid crystal display on the back was the Casio QV-10.
• 1996    The first camera to use CompactFlash was the Kodak DC-25.
• 1997    LG Semicon Co. started mass production of 1/3" IT-CCD Image Sensor
• 1998    LG Semicon Co. developed 1/3" Progressive Scan IT-CCD Image Sensor
• 1998    Philips introduced sensor with 6 million pixels and 10 bit dynamic range at ISO 400
• 1999    The Nikon D1, the first digital SLR designed and manufactured by a single camera company is released- 2.7 megapixels.
• (Ted takes last known photograph on film.)
• 2003    Canon’s 6.3 megapixel EOS Digital Rebel is available for less than $1,000. It is the first digital SLR to make a major impact on the consumer market.
• 2003    Digital camera sales exceed film camera sales for the first time.
• 2004     Kodak ceases production of film cameras.

Some fairly random notes:
 

From about 1960 on to, oh, say 1970, semiconductors, integrated circuits, even just the idea of making silicon wafers was new stuff. 
 

Moore’s Law is a very interesting early observation which not only comments on the pace of IC development and the miniaturization of components in electronics, but it’s been used to comment on the pace of technology itself.  All from a paper titled “Cramming more components into Integrated Circuits”.
 

Serious image sensor work, both in CCD and CMOS technology started in the mid-‘60s, and the first camera was proposed in 1975.  From 1970 to 1980 or so, there were some serious developments in the physical design of the sensor.  The Interline CCD was the most common design for cameras ca. 2001, it was developed in ’73.
 

The mid-to-late ‘80s saw start of the development of actual digital cameras.  We get the Tessara, the Leaf DCB, the Sony Mavica…  in the ‘90s we’re getting consumer friendly cameras like the Logitech Dycam, Apple’s Quicktake 100, and the Casio QV-10, along with several Kodak products.
 

In the late ‘90’s the development of Compact Flash memory and on-camera LCDs moved the cameras into position to be a true rival to a hand-held film camera. 
 

The release of the Nikon D1 in 1999 was the first true, single-manufacturer DSLR camera offered, and may commercial photographers’ first foray into digital photography for commercial work.  A very short four years later, with the Digital Rebel, Canon opened digital photography with SLR system-based features up to the consumer market.  That year, as well, saw digital camera sales surpass film camera sales for the first time in history.  Nikon, Canon and Kodak soon ceased production of all film cameras- Kodak in 2004, Nikon and Canon in 2006.