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Press Release, 12-29
NATIONAL INVENTORS
HALL OF FAME HONORS 2012 INDUCTEES
Group includes inventors of the first statin, holography, carbon dioxide
laser, and laser printer
Washington – Dedicated to honoring the individuals who conceived, patented, and advanced the great
technological achievements that have changed the world, the National Inventors Hall of Fame is honoring its 2012
Inductees at a formal Induction ceremony taking place in Washington, D.C. The inventors honored this year created
remarkable innovations that include the now ubiquitous laser printer commonly found in the workplace, the thin
film head technology that has contributed to the success of the disk drive industry, and the carbon dioxide laser
now in widespread use in industrial, medical, and military applications.
The Induction ceremony, sponsored
by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, takes place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the
National Portrait Gallery, the site of the historic Patent Office Building. Seven living inventors will be
recognized and three more will be recognized posthumously. Among those being honored posthumously are Mária
Telkes, a solar energy pioneer, and Steve Jobs, the well-known Apple Computer co-founder.
“As we celebrate
the 40th annual Induction Ceremony of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, we are struck by the impact that these
new Inductees have had throughout our lives,” said Edward Gray, Chairman of the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Board of Directors. “Through their dedication and persistence, these inventors have helped shape not just today
but also the future, and their Induction brings appropriate recognition to outstanding examples of innovation.”
“The USPTO is honored to join in recognizing these ingenious individuals. They have transformed the way we
interact with the world,” said David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the USPTO. “Their patented inventions have built businesses, created jobs, and will inspire technological advances
for generations to come.” Read Kappos' full induction ceremony remarks
here.
This year, the inventors
being honored include:
Akira Endo
Endo discovered mevastatin, the first statin, pioneering research into a
new class of molecules that are now a hugely successful class of drugs targeting the lowering of cholesterol. He
began his research after learning about the connection between high cholesterol and coronary heart disease,
causing him to hypothesize that inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in the process of synthesizing
cholesterol in the liver, could decrease cholesterol levels. Endo is currently Director of Biopharm Research
Laboratories and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.
Dennis
Gabor (1900-1979)
Gabor is best known for his research in electron optics which led to the invention of
holography. Holography became commercially viable after the development of the laser which provided the intense,
coherent light necessary for successful holography. Today, because of Gabor’s discovery and also the efforts of a
number of researchers after him, holography has seen numerous modern day applications in fields as varied as
engineering, medicine, manufacturing, and art.
Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
Steve Jobs was just 21 in 1976 when he
co-founded Apple Computer with his friend, National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee Steve Wozniak. During his
lifetime, he was a major influence on a number of industries, including personal computing, animated movies,
music, smart phones, tablet computing, retailing, and digital publishing.
Barbara Liskov
MIT Institute Professor Liskov is considered an innovator in the design of computer programming
languages, largely for helping to make computer programs more reliable, secure, and easy to use. Liskov in known
for designing CLU, an object-oriented programming language, and Argus, a distributed programming language. CLU and
Argus would contribute to languages like Ada, Java, C++, and C#, which are in turn widely used to write software
applications for personal computers, the Internet, and a wide range of financial, medical, consumer, and business
applications.
C. Kumar N. Patel
Patel invented the carbon dioxide laser at Bell Labs; since then, the carbon dioxide laser
has become common and versatile with uses in the medical, industrial, and military arenas. Although many types of
lasers exist, carbon dioxide lasers are highly efficient and have a reasonable cost, and they ushered in the era
of high power laser applications. After 32 years at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Patel became Vice Chancellor for
Research at UCLA. In 2000, he started his own company, Pranalytica, to manufacture mid-infrared quantum cascade
laser systems and gas sensing instruments.
Lubomyr Romankiw and David Thompson
IBM researchers Romankiw and
Thompson invented the first practical magnetic thin film storage heads, creating new designs for both read and
write heads along with a new fabrication process. Thin film technology increased the density of data that could be
stored on magnetic disks, even while the disk size was being substantially reduced, dramatically reducing the cost
of data storage. Romankiw works at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, and Thompson is retired from IBM’s Almaden
Research Center.
Gary Starkweather
Starkweather’s laser printer, invented at the Xerox PARC facility, was the first to print any images that could be
created on a computer. A laser beam carried digital information, and a copier then developed the imaged digital
information to make a print. In 1977, Xerox launched the 9700 laser printer which would become one of Xerox’s
best-selling products. Starkweather worked at Xerox for over 20 years, then went on to spend 10 years at Apple
Computer and eight years at Microsoft before retiring in 2005.
Mária Telkes (1900-1995)
Telkes was a highly
respected innovator in solar energy. Throughout her career, she published widely on the topics of solar heating,
thermoelectric generators and distillers, and electrical conductivity of solid electrolytes. At MIT, she worked on
the Dover Sun House, which employed a method using sodium sulphates to store energy from the sun. During World War
II, she developed a solar distillation device that was included in the military’s emergency medical kits. At the
University of Delaware, she would contribute to Solar One, an experimental solar house utilizing a variety of
solar systems.
Alejandro Zaffaroni
Biotechnology innovator Zaffaroni conducted early work in controlled
drug delivery methods, particularly early concepts for transdermal patches, which led to the growth of research in
innovative drug delivery systems. He has founded numerous biotech companies throughout his career.
The work
of these Inductees show how vision, hard work, and creative drive can lead to powerful new tools that shape the
future, change society, and improve the way we live. “It is an honor to be recognized for the invention of the
laser printer,” said Inductee Gary Starkweather. “I’ve always had an innate curiosity about why things work the
way they do, and I think that curiosity has helped me take a few chances and given me a wonderful career along the
way.”
The National Inventors Hall of Fame annually accepts nominations for men and women whose work has
changed society and improved the quality of life. The candidate’s invention must be covered by a United States
patent, and the work must have had a major impact on society, the public welfare, and the progress of science and
the useful arts.
About the Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame is the premier non-profit
organization in America dedicated to honoring legendary inventors whose innovations and entrepreneurial endeavors
have changed the world. Founded in 1973 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the National Council
of Intellectual Property Law Association, the Hall of Fame has 470 Inductees with its 2012 Induction.
The
National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum is located in the atrium of the Madison Building on the campus of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office, at 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA. Hall of Fame hours are Monday
through Friday 9 AM to 5 PM, and Saturday from Noon to 5 PM (closed Sundays and federal holidays). Admission is
free. For more information on the National Inventors Hall of Fame, including Inductee nomination forms and a full
listing of Inductees, please visit www.invent.org.
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