The National Medal of Technology is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators that have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology. The award may be granted to a specific person, to a group of people or to an entire organization or corporation. It is the highest honor the United States can confer to a US citizen for achievements related to technological progress.

History

The National Medal of Technology was created in 1980 by the United States Congress under the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act. It was a bipartisan effort to foster technological innovation and the technological competitiveness of the United States in the international arena. The first National Medals of Technology were issued in 1985 by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan to 14 individuals and one company. Among the first recipients were technology giants like Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, founders of Apple Computer, and AT&T Bell Laboratories, a veritable powerhouse in technological innovation. The medal has since been awarded annually with the most recent winners, the recipients in 2004, having been announced on November 14 2005.

Award process

Each year the Technology Administration under the U.S. Department of Commerce calls for the nomination of new candidates for the National Medal of Technology. Candidates are nominated by their peers that have direct, first-hand knowledge of the candidates achievements. Candidates may be individuals, teams of individuals (up to 4), organizations or corporations. Individuals and all members of teams nominated must be U.S. citizens and organizations and corporations must be U.S.-owned (i.e. 50% of their assets or shares must be currently held by U.S. citizens).

All nominations are referred to the National Medal of Technology Evaluation Committee which issues recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. All nominees selected as finalists through the merit review process will be subject to an FBI security check. Information collected through the security check may be considered in the final selection of winners. The Secretary of Commerce is then able to advise the President of the United States as to which candidates ought to receive the National Medal of Technology. The new National Medal of Technology laureates are then announced by the U.S. President once the final selections have been made.

Laureates

As of 2005, there have been more than 135 individuals and 12 companies recognized. Summarized here is a list of the most notable laureates and a summary of their accomplishments.

Eminent Laureates of the National Medal of Technology, 1985-2005

Year	Name	Topic
2005	Ralph Baer	"For inventing the first video game console."
2004	Roger Easton, Sr.	"For his extensive pioneering achievements in spacecraft tracking, navigation and timing technology that led to the development of the NAVSTAR-Global Positioning System (GPS)." [1]
2003	Watts Humphrey	" For his vision of a discipline for software engineering, for his work toward meeting that vision, and for the resultant impact on the U.S. Government, industry, and academic communities."
2003	Robert Metcalfe	"For leadership in the invention, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet."
2002	Nick Holonyak	For inventing the LED
2000	Douglas Engelbart	For inventing the computer mouse and helping develop hypertext
2000	Dean Kamen	"For inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for ... awakening America to the excitement of science and technology."
1999	Robert W. Taylor	"For visionary leadership in the development of modern computing technology, including computer networks, the personal computer and the graphical user interface."
1998	Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie	"For co-inventing the UNIX operating system and the C programming language which together have led to enormous advance to computer hardware, software and networking systems. And assimilated the growth of an entire industry thereby enhancing American leadership in the information age."
1997	Vinton Cerf and Robert E. Kahn	"For creating and sustaining development of Internet Protocols"
1996	Stephanie Kwolek	"For her contributions to the discovery, development and liquid crystal processing of high-performance aramid fibers (Kevlar)"
1994	Irwin M. Jacobs	"For his development of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) as a commercial technology adopted as a U.S. digital cellular standard"
1993	Kenneth H. Olsen	"For his contributions to the development and use of computer technology" (Digital Equipment Corporation - DEC)
1992	Bill Gates	"For his early vision of universal computing at home and in the office..."
1991	Grace Murray Hopper	"For her pioneering accomplishments in the development of computer programming languages..."
1990	John Atanasoff	"For his invention of the electronic digital computer..."
1990	Jack Kilby	"For his invention and contributions to the commercialization of the integrated circuit and the silicon thermal print-head; for his contributions to the development of the first computer using integrated circuits; and for the invention of the hand-held calculator, and gate array."
1990	Gordon Moore	"For his seminal leadership in ... large-scale integrated memory and the microprocessor..."
1989	Herbert W. Boyer and Stanley N. Cohen	"For their fundamental invention of gene splicing techniques ... and discovery of recombinant DNA technology"
1988	Arnold O. Beckman	"For exceptional creativity in designing analytical instruments" (spectrophotometry)
1988	Edwin H. Land	"For the invention, development and marketing of instant photography."
1988	David Packard	"For extraordinary and unselfish leadership in both industry and government, particularly in widely diversified technological fields..."
1987	Robert N. Noyce	"For his inventions in the field of semiconductor integrated circuits..."
1986	Bernard M. Gordon	"For his invention and development of D/A and A/D conversion..."
1986	Reynold B. Johnson	"For his invention and development of magnetic disk storage..."
1985	Fred Brooks, Eric Bloch and Bob Evans	"For their contributions to the IBM System/360, a computer system and technologies which revolutionized the data processing industry..."
1985	Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak	"For their development and introduction of the personal computer..."

See also

• National Medal of Science
• National Medal of Arts

External links

• National Medal of Technology Website
• National Science and Technology Medals Foundation
• List of all medal recipients