Scientific American is pleased to honor the 50 individuals, teams, companies and other organizations listed below.
Through their many accomplishments in 2001-2002, they have demonstrated clear, progressive views of what our technological future could be, as well as the leadership, knowledge and expertise essential to realizing those visions. Congratulations.
For a full description of their work, visit the Scientific American Archive and purchase the December issue.
RESEARCH LEADERS OF THE YEAR
Led the effort to sequence the genome of rice, the world’s most important food crop.
STEPHEN GOFF
Syngenta抯 Torrey Mesa Research Institute
HUANMING YANG
Beijing Genomics Institute
JUN YU
University of Washington Genome Center
BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR
Advocated and oversaw the development of fuel cells as automotive energy sources.
GEOFFREY BALLARD
General Hydrogen
ADDITIONAL WINNERS
AGRICULTURE
ALLISON A. SNOW
Ohio State University
The potential of genetically engineered crops to pass traits to weeds must be understood.
G. STEVEN BURRILL
Burrill & Company
Advanced the cause of biotechnology by demonstrating its prudent investment value.
PRODIGENE, INC. College Station, Tex.
Produced transgenic corn that could be the basis for an edible AIDS vaccine.
SANDRA L. POSTEL
Global Water Policy Project
Advocated sweeping changes aimed at preserving the world抯 dwindling supplies of freshwater.
CHEMICALS AND MATERIALS
ANTHOULA LAZARIS AND COSTAS KARATZAS
Nexia Biotechnologies
Created transgenic goats that can manufacture superstrong spider silk in their milk.
RANDY HOWARD
Cargill Dow
Marketed green plastics made from corn that are economically competitive with conventional products.
JON S. CORZINE
U.S. Senate, New Jersey
Legislated for higher security and safety standards at industrial facilities to defend against terrorism.
MOTOROLA Schaumburg, Ill.
Integrated components made of different semiconductors onto single high-performance chips.
COMMUNICATIONS
MARC GOLDBURG
ArrayComm
Invented method for improving wireless services by beaming signals directly to mobile users.
MASOOD GARAHI
MeshNetworks
Tested systems for forging ad hoc high-speed wireless networks of mobile devices.
LAWRENCE LESSIG
Stanford University Law School
Argued against interpretations of copyright that could stifle innovation and discourse online.
XM SATELLITE RADIO Washington, D.C.
Offered nationwide satellite-based radio broadcasts with digital audio quality and no commercials.
COMPUTING
JOHN KUBIATOWICZ
University of California, Berkeley
Designed a highly distributed data storage system that could be shared by millions of users simultaneously.
PAUL HORN
IBM Research
Directed his company and others to build more robust computer systems needing less care and supervision.
ANN BEESON
American Civil Liberties Union
Fought to ensure that personal freedoms would be preserved online and in digital media.
MATRIX SEMICONDUCTOR Santa Clara, Calif.
Developed vertically integrated microchips that could lower prices while boosting performance.
DEFENSE
JOAQUIN H. CASTRO
Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion
Led the team that designed and built a functional prototype of a scramjet.
GILMAN LOUIE
In-Q-Tel, Inc.
Used venture capital to help foster needed intelligence-gathering technologies for U.S. security.
LT. GEN. JOHN RIGGS
U.S. Army Objective Force Task Force
Oversaw the high-tech transformation of ground forces for fighting new kinds of wars.
NORTHRUP GRUMMAN El Segundo, Calif.
Rapidly deployed its Global Hawk unmanned spy plane for reconnaissance in Afghanistan.
ENERGY
KEN DEERING
Wind Turbine Company
Designed new wind turbines that are more efficient and produce more power.
MANFRED STEFENER
Smart Fuel Cell
Led the commercial development of miniature fuel cells small enough to power mobile devices.
EDDIE O扖ONNOR
Airtricity
Guided Ireland抯 plans to build a massive wind power station at sea.
SPECTROLAB AND THE NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY Sylmar, Calif., and Golden, Colo.
Demonstrated photovoltaic cells with record-breakingly high efficiencies.
ENVIRONMENT
MICHAEL E. MANN
University of Virginia
Conducted influential research into global climate change that affected international policies.
JOAN BAVARIA
Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies
Promoted social and environmental goals by guiding investments toward companies with responsible policies.
BILL BECKER
State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators
Lobbied successfully for pollution controls that will cut automotive emissions.
PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC AND GAS State of New Jersey
Responded constructively to concerns about polluting emissions from utilities.
MANUFACTURING
R. STANLEY WILLIAMS, PHILIP KUEKES, YONG CHEN
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
JAMES HEATH
University of California, Los Angeles
Invented self-assembling nanotechnology devices that might eventually surpass those etched into chips.
SUNLIN CHOU
Intel Corporation
Oversaw the development of technologies for making chips with features only 130 nanometers across.
ALICE H. AMSDEN
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Identified strategies for economic development that could be of singular value to non-Western countries on the rise.
NANOOPTO Princeton, N.J.
Devised methods for integrating the disparate components of optical computing onto a single chip.
MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS
GARY W. SMALL
University of California, Los Angeles
Demonstrated that the medical imaging technology PET can give a clear, early diagnosis of Alzheimer抯 disease.
PETER D. MELDRUM
Myriad Genetics, Inc.
Led his company抯 development of diagnostic products based on patients?genetic information.
ERIC GOEMAERE
Doctors Without Borders/M閐icins Sans Fronti鑢es
Brokered agreements making AIDS therapies more available to the poor in South Africa.
CELERA DIAGNOSTICS Alameda, Calif.
Found genes associated with various illnesses and began to develop new tests for diagnosing them early.
MEDICAL TREATMENTS
ANTHONY J. ATALA
Children抯 Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Demonstrated that cloning can be used to produce transplantable organs and tissues.
EMILIO A. EMINI
Merck & Company
Mobilized his company to invest substantially in AIDS vaccine research.
KOFI A. ANNAN
United Nations
Formed the U.N. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and lobbied for billions in funding.
IDEC PHARMACEUTICALS San Diego, Calif.
Introduced the first commercial radio-conjugated monoclonal antibody for fighting cancer.
TRANSPORTATION
DEAN KAMEN
DEKA Research and Development Corporation
Introduced his groundbreaking Segway personal transport to widen individuals?travel options.
HIROYUKI YOSHINO
Honda
Directed his company抯 progressive position on improving fuel efficiency and lowering emissions.
FRAN PAVLEY
California State Assembly
Legislated state automotive CO2-emission standards that will improve standards nationally.
XCOR AEROSPACE Mojave, Calif.
Built and tested extremely small rocket engines that might change the economics of launches.
GENERAL TECHNOLOGY
ALEXANDER PINES
University of California, Berkeley
JOHN CLARKE
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories
Demonstrated the theoretical feasibility of low-power MRI scanners for diverse medical uses.
JEFFREY IMMELT
General Electric
Maintained his company抯 extensive commitment to funding basic research.
RUSH HOLT
U.S. House of Representatives, New Jersey
Spearheaded efforts to resurrect the congressional advisory Office of Technology Assessment.
CAMBRIDGE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY Cambridge, England
Developed and promoted the use of light-emitting polymers in commercial product displays.
