I whanau a Smith i White Plains, New York. I mahi a Smith i te US Navy, a ka whiwhi ia i tana B.Sc. tohu mai i te Whare Wananga o Pennsylvania i te tau 1955 me tana Ph.D. tohu mai i te Whare Wananga o Chicago i te tau 1959 me te tuhinga e waru noa iho nga whaarangi. I mahi ia i Bell Labs i Murray Hill, New Jersey mai i te 1959 ki tana reti i te 1986, i reira i arahi ai ia i nga rangahau ki nga laser hou me nga taputapu semiconductor. I a ia e mahi ana, i whakawhiwhia a Smith ki nga pateni me te upoko o te tari taputapu VLSI. I te 1969, i hangaia e Smith me Willard Boyle te Pūrere-Coupled Pūrere (CCD), i riro ngatahi ai i a raatau te Tohu Stuart Ballantine o te Franklin Institute i te 1973, te 1974 IEEE N. Morris Liebmann Memorial Award, te Charles Draper Stark Prize, me te 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Te US Navy