Bush awards science, technology medals

By CHRISTINE SIMMONS, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 38 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - President Bush awarded 30 science and technology medals Friday for breakthroughs in such fields as astrophysics, laser technology, climatology and tissue engineering.
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The National Science Foundation administers the Medal of Science, which was established by Congress in 1959. The Medal of Technology was established by Congress in 1980 and is administered by the Commerce Department.
"We have researchers who have drilled into glaciers, isolated the DNA of mobile genes and pioneered the distributed feedback laser," Bush said before presenting the medals in the White House's East Room. "In other words, we've got some smart people here. And we're glad you're Americans."
The president drew laughter when he said: "In a single room, we have thinkers who helped formulate and refine the Big Bang theory of the universe, the bootstrap resampling technique of statistics, the algebraic K-theory of mathematics. I'm going to play like I understand what all that means."
The awards were for 2005 and 2006. Bush was unable to present the 2005 awards due to a scheduling conflict.
Medal recipients in science for 2005 were:
• Jan D. Achenbach, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., for his contributions to engineering research and education.
• Ralph A. Alpher, Dudley Observatory, Schenectady, N.Y., for the prediction that universe expansion leaves behind radiation and for providing the model for the Big Bang Theory.
• Gordon H. Bower, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., for his contributions to cognitive and mathematical psychology.
• Bradley Efron, Stanford University, for his contributions to theoretical and applied statistics and for his applications in medicine, physics and astronomy.
• Anthony S. Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Md., for his pioneering work to understand the human immune system and HIV.
• Tobin J. Marks, Northwestern University, for pioneering research in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis and areas of chemistry.
• Lonnie G. Thompson, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, for his research in paleoclimatology analyzing fingerprints found in tropical ice cores from the world's highest mountain glaciers.
• Torsten N. Wiesel, The Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y., for providing key insights into the operation of the visual system and for his research in neural connections.
Medal recipients in science for 2006 were:
• Hyman Bass, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., for his contributions to mathematics and his influence on mathematics education.
• Marvin H. Caruthers, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., for his work in developing new methods for the chemical synthesis of DNA.
• Rita R. Colwell, University of Maryland, College Park, Md., for her research that has contributed to the fields of ecology, physiology and evolution of marine microbes.
• Peter B. Dervan, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., for his contributions at the interface of organic chemistry and biology and for his influence in education and industrial innovation.
• Nina V. Fedoroff, Pennsylvania State University, College Park, Pa., for her work on plant molecular biology and for being the first to clone and characterize maize transposons, which are mobile segments of DNA.
• Daniel Kleppner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., for his pioneering studies of the interaction of atoms and light.
• Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his revolutionary discoveries in the areas of tissue engineering and synthesis of new materials that have led to new medical treatments.
• Lubert Stryer, Stanford University, for his pioneering work in biochemistry.
Medal recipients in technology for 2005 were:
• Alfred Y. Cho, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, Murray Hill, N.J., for his contributions to the invention of the molecular beam epitaxy technology and the development of technology in advanced electronic and photonic devices.
• Dean L. Sicking, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., for his innovative design and development of roadside and race track safety technologies.
• Ronald Eby, Velupillai Puvanesarajah, Dace Viceps Madore and Maya Koster, of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Madison, N.J., for their work involving Prevnar, the first vaccine to prevent deadly consequences of Streptococcus pneumoniae infections in children.
• Genzyme Corp., Cambridge, Mass., for its pioneering improvements in the health of thousands of patients with rare diseases and using biotechnology to develop new therapies.
• Semiconductor Research Corp., Durham, N.C., for building the world's largest and most successful university research force to support rapid growth of the semiconductor industry.
• Xerox Corp., Stamford, Conn., for more than 50 years of innovation in materials and software that created the modern reprographics, digital printing and print-on-demand industries.
Medal recipients in technology for 2006 were:
• Leslie A. Geddes, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., for his contributions to electrode design and tissue restoration, which have led to the widespread use of a variety of clinical devices.
• Paul G. Kaminski, Technovation Inc., Fairfax Station, Va., for his contributions to national security through the development of advanced imaging from space.
• Herwig W. Kogelnik, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, for his leadership in the development of laser, optoelectronics, integrated optics and lightwave communications technology.
• Charles M. Vest, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his leadership in advancing the national partnership among academia, government and industry.
• James E. West, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., for co-inventing in 1962 the electret microphone. This technology is used in 92 percent of the 2 billion microphones produced annually.