For
Immediate Release
October 6,
1999 |
Contacts:
Bob Ludwig, Media Relations Associate
Jennifer Cavendish, Media Relations Assistant
(202) 334-2138
e-mail: news@nas.edu |
Developers of
Fiber Optic Technology
Receive Draper Prize;
NAE
Awards Now Total $1 Million with New Russ Prize
WASHINGTON The National Academy
of Engineering (NAE) announced that three engineers Charles
K. Kao, Robert D. Maurer, and John B. MacChesney are
the recipients of the 1999 Charles Stark Draper Prize for their work in developing fiber
optic technology, a watershed event in the global telecommunications and information
technology revolution. The $500,000 prize will be presented at a dinner honoring the
recipients next February during National Engineers Week.
"The NAE is proud to honor these
visionaries for the development of one of the most revolutionary inventions the world has
ever seen," said Wm. A. Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering.
"Communication as we now know it, including the Internet, would not exist without
fiber optics. Innovations such as videoconferencing, electronic commerce, and high-quality
long-distance telephone service are a direct result of the work of these three
engineers."
The NAE also announced the creation of
the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize a new $500,000 award to be given biennially
beginning in 2000 to recognize outstanding achievement in an engineering field of
critical importance that, through widespread use, contributes to improving the human
condition. The first Russ Prize, endowed by the Russes through Ohio University, Athens,
will recognize achievement in bioengineering.
"The dedication of $1 million in
prizes shows the National Academy of Engineering's commitment to recognizing those who
have devoted a lifetime to the advancement of society through engineering," said
Wulf. "It is important that the NAE honors industry leaders who perpetuate critical
thinking, technological advancements, and societal benefit."
The Charles Stark Draper Prize, endowed
by Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Mass., was established in 1988 to recognize individuals
whose outstanding engineering achievements have contributed to the well-being and freedom
of humanity. The once-biennial prize will now be awarded annually. This year's award
celebrates fiber optic technology, which uses light to carry information through silica
fiber material that is thinner than a human hair. Its low manufacturing cost and its
ability to transmit vastly more information than copper wire has fueled the explosion in
global communications. It is the "concrete" of the information superhighway. By
the end of 1998 more than 215 million kilometers of optical fiber had been installed for
communications worldwide, enough to stretch to the moon and back nearly 280 times.
Kao, who was working at ITT's Standard
Telecommunications Laboratories in the 1960s, theorized about how to use light for
communication instead of bulky copper wire and was the first to publicly propose the
possibility of a practical application for fiber optic telecommunication. Maurer led a
team of researchers at Corning Inc. that included co-inventors Donald Keck and Peter
Schultz, who designed and produced the first optical fiber in 1970. MacChesney and his
colleagues at Bell Laboratories formerly part of
AT&T and now the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies followed in 1974 with the Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition
process, which provided a path to the practical mass production of high-quality optical
fiber.
Maurer retired from Corning Inc. in
1989 and resides in Painted Post, N.Y. Kao and MacChesney are still involved in
telecommunications research and development. Kao is chairman and chief executive officer
of Transtech Services Ltd., Hong Kong, and MacChesney is a research fellow at Bell
Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, N.J.
Charles Stark Draper, the "father
of inertial navigation," evolved the theory, invented and developed the technology,
and led the effort that brought inertial navigation to operational usage in aircraft,
space vehicles, and submarines. Draper developed the sophisticated navigational system
that landed the Apollo astronauts on the moon and returned them safely to Earth. He was
elected to the NAE in 1965.
The new engineering prize honors Fritz
Russ, an esteemed engineer, entrepreneur, and founder of Systems Research Laboratories,
and his wife Dolores Russ, a long-time supporter and benefactor of the engineering
industry. The prize was created by the NAE at the request of Ohio University from which
Fritz Russ graduated in 1942 with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering.
"Engineers make a major
contribution to our society and they don't get adequate recognition," said Fritz
Russ. "The space program, automobiles, bioengineering, medical technology, television
and communications, and computers are just a few examples. The prize is a means to getting
engineers better recognition for their achievements, and the National Academy of
Engineering is the best vehicle to award the prize."
Founded in 1964, the National Academy
of Engineering provides engineering leadership in service to the nation, and works to
build and to articulate the implications of rapid technological change, affecting the way
people work, learn, band play. Operating under the same congressional Act of Incorporation
signed in 1863 by President Lincoln that established the National Academy of Sciences, the
NAE is directed whenever called on by any department or agency of the government, to
investigate, examine, experiment, and report on any subject of science and technology.
Draper Laboratory serves the nation as
an independent, nonprofit laboratory engaged in applied research, engineering development,
education, and technology transfer.
Ohio University was chartered by the
state of Ohio in 1804 and is the oldest university in the Northwest Territory. The
university enrolls more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students at its main campus
in Athens and at five regional campuses. It is designated a Research II university by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
For more information about the National
Academy of Engineering and the Draper and Russ prizes, contact Daniel N. Whitt Jr., NAE
awards administrator, at (202) 334-1237. Visit the NAE Web site at www.nae.edu.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
1999 Charles Stark Draper Prize Committee
Mary L. Good, Ph.D.1 (chair)
Former Undersecretary for Technology
U.S. Department of Commerce, and
Managing Member
Venture Capital Investors, LLC
Little Rock, Ark.
Richard Balzhiser, Ph.D.1
President Emeritus
Electric Power Research Institute Inc.
Palo Alto, Calif.
Thomas F. Budinger, M.D., Ph.D.1,2
Head, Center for Functional Imaging
E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, Calif.
Fernando J. Corbato, Ph.D.1
Professor Emeritus of Computer Science
and Engineering, and Senior Lecturer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge
Maurice C. Fuerstenau, Sc.D.1
Echo Bays Mines Distinguished Professor
Mackay School of Mines
University of Nevada
Reno
Elsa M. Garmire, Ph.D.1
Professor
Thayer School of Engineering
Dartmouth College
Hanover, N.H.
John H. Gibbons, Ph.D.1
Former Assistant to the President for Science
and Technology, and Former Director
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The Plains, Va.
Siegfried S. Hecker, Ph.D.1
Senior Fellow
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, N.M.
Paul C. Jennings, Ph.D.1
Professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena
Henry Petroski, Ph.D.1
A.S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering
Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering
Duke University
Durham, N.C.
Herbert H. Richardson, Sc.D., P.E.1
Associate Vice Chancellor for Engineering, and
Director, Texas Transportation Institute
Texas A&M University System
College Station
Maxine L. Savitz, Ph.D.1
General Manager
Ceramic Components
AlliedSignal Inc.
Torrance, Calif.
Robert M. White, Sc.D.1
President Emeritus, National Academy of Engineering, and
Principal, Washington Advisory Group
Washington, D.C.
ACADEMY STAFF
Daniel N. Whitt Jr.
NAE Awards Administrator
1
Member, National Academy of Engineering
2Member, Institute of Medicine |