Scientific American June 1997 [antikvár]

From the Editors Recognizing Technological Genius Americans have always taken great, justified pride in their inventiveness. Even at the birth of this country, that tradition was in k. place: when the founding fathers weren't busy inventing the U.S., they were oft:en inventing other useful things, too. Benjamin Franklin was the archetypal American Leonardo, a Renaissance man born two centuries too late. He invented bifocals, the lightning rod and his eponymous stove and pioneered the study of electricity. Thomas Jefferson is revered as an architect for having designed and built both his own home, Monticello, and the University of Virginia. But he was also an inveterate tinkerer and fan of new gad-getry and an ardent practitioner of scientific farming. His improvements to the mold-board of the common agricultural plow eventually led to that design becoming the standard for its time. The roster of this country's technology innovators is long. To name only a few: Thomas Alva Edison. Alexander Graham Bell. Henry Ford. George Washington Carver. Eli Whitney. Orville and Wilbur Wright. Robert Fulton. Buckminster Fuller. Charles Goodyear. Samuel Morse. Elias Howe. George Eastman. Elmer Ambrose Sperry. Charles A. Lindbergh. Edwin H. Land. Grace Murray Hopper. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce. Jonas Salk. Robert H. God-dard. Vannevar Bush. This country could barely have survived, let alone flourished, without their genius. INVENTIVENESS builds national prosperity. Against that backdrop of achievement, the National Medal of Tech-. nology stands as the preeminent honor that can be bestowed on any American for excellence in technological innovation. Since 1985 the president of the U.S. has annually awarded this recognition to individuals and corporate teams who, in the opinion of the independent steering committee, have made lasting contributions to American competitiveness and to standards of living. Scientific American has of course always had its own strong interests in these areas, since it was founded in 1845 as "The Advocate of Industry and Enterprise, and Journal of Mechanical and Other Improvements." More than a few of the past and present winners have previously written about their work for this magazine. We are delighted to be associated with the National Medal of Technology and to join President Bill Clinton and the Department of Commerce in saluting this year's winners. A special bulletin describing them and their accompHshments appears this month, beginning on page 10. We commend them for their inspiration and for the real benefits they have brought to this republic. JOHN RENNIE, Editor in Chief editors@>;ciam.com