News Release

Science and technology take center stage this election year

11 individuals from around the globe honored for outstanding achievements

Grant and Award Announcement

The Franklin Institute



Philadelphia, PA – March 3, 2008 – On the evening of April 17th, in Philadelphia, following a whirl-wind week of activities celebrating science and the spirit of discovery, nine individuals will be honored with Benjamin Franklin Medals and two will be presented with prestigious Bower Awards. The Franklin Institute Awards, often a precursor to the Nobel Prize, are awarded for outstanding achievements that have directly and positively impacted and enhanced the quality of human life and deepened our understanding of the universe.

The issue of America’s competitive place in the global economy as driven by leadership in science and technology has recently attracted national attention from policy makers, business and community leaders, government officials, editors, writers and other thought leaders in this country. This makes the annual celebration of science tied to The Franklin Institute Awards particularly relevant in this election year.

The rich history and tradition of The Franklin Institute Awards Program dates back to 1824, when the Institute was established to train artisans and mechanics in the fundamentals of engineering and science. Past laureates have included Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking, Francis Crick, Jacques Cousteau, Gordon Moore and Jane Goodall. 108 Franklin laureates have won 110 Nobel prizes (2 won twice) and over 50 were recognized by The Franklin Institute prior to Nobel, often times decades before, for the same work. Spanning three centuries, this program is among the most widely known and effective awards programs in existence. Why" Because The Franklin Institute Awards Program changes lives by making science accessible and relevant to the lives of everyone, which is key to inspiring the next generation of great scientists and engineers who will invent the future. “The future economic success of our country depends on Americans out-performing the competition with smart people and innovative ideas. These exceptional individuals and their remarkable achievements do more than continue our 184-year-old-legacy.” said Dennis M. Wint, President and CEO of the Franklin Institute, “They serve as role models for our youth, helping ignite that spark of curiosity which has led to so many incredible discoveries and inventions.”

This April, The Franklin Institute celebrates science, technology and business leadership by honoring the following individuals for their monumental and critical achievements:

  • Judea Pearl, receives the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for advancing the world of artificial intelligence by allowing computers to uncover associations and connections within millions of data points.

  • Wallace Broecker receives the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science for developing models of how the ocean circulates, how ocean affects climate change and how climate has changed throughout history.

  • Takeo Kanade receives the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science in honor of a lifetime of ground-breaking contributions to robotics, which have contributed to numerous real-world applications including robotic vision, fully-realized 3-D virtual worlds from 2-D images and medical technology.

  • Deborah Jin receives the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics for pioneering a brand new field of study in physics and creating the first coherent gas of ultra-cold fermionic atoms.

  • Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe receive the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science for discovering the process of gene silencing.

  • Arun Phadke and James Thorp receive the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their contributions to microprocessor controllers in electric power systems that have significantly decreased the occurrence and duration of power blackouts.

  • Frederick Smith receives the Bower Award for Business Leadership for conceiving and establishing the concept of guaranteed overnight delivery, and founding FedEx.

  • Albert Eschenmoser receives the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry for his lifetime of research into the structures of a cell's nucleic acids, leading to the understanding of why RNA and DNA have the structure they do.

Beginning Tuesday, April 15th, students and adults, visitors and members of the community are all invited into The Franklin Institute to participate in this celebration of science:

Tuesday, April 15

10AM-11:30 AM- “Laureates’ Laboratory” in Planetarium Hallway.
The Franklin Institute Awards laureates will be on hand to present interactive demonstrations that illustrate the specific concepts behind their work. Free and open to middle school, high school and college students as well as to the general public. The event this year will feature the Carnegie Mellon University “DARPA Urban Challenge” winning robotic car.

1:00 PM-3:30 PM – “Meet the Scientists” in Franklin Theater
This lively discussion and Q & A is geared toward students and will be moderated by members of PACTS, (Partnerships for Achieving Careers in Technology and Science), the 15 year old program for middle and high school students in Philadelphia. For students-by invitation only.

7:00 PM –9:00 PM –“The Ocean and Earth’s Climate: Past, Present & Future,” in Franklin Theater

A panel discussion featuring Dr. Wallace Broecker, recipient of the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science, moderated by NPR’s Dr. Joe Palca. Other participating panelists include Dr. D. James Baker/Global Carbon Measurement Program, The William J. Clinton Foundation; Dr. John Byrne/Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware; Dr. Nancy M. Targett/College of Marine and Earth Studies, University of Delaware. Free and open to public but registration is required: 215.448.2364 or via email: dbojie@fi.edu. Sponsored by The Franklin Institute.

On Wednesday and Thursday, April 16th & 17th, each laureate will take part in a seminar or lecture focusing on their area of expertise at various universities throughout the city. All are free and open to the public.

Wednesday, April 16:

8:00 AM-12:30 PM – “Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry: Challenges-Past, Present and Future” at University of Pennsylvania, Chemistry Laboratories Room 102 – a symposium honoring 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medalist in Chemistry, Dr. Albert Eschenmoser. Speakers include Dr. Eschenmoser, Professor Scott E. Denmark/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Professor M. Reza Ghadiri/Scripps Research Institute; Professor Erik J. Sorensen/Princeton University. Co-Sponsored by The Franklin Institute, University of Pennsylvania Dept. of Chemistry and AstraZeneca.

9:00 AM-12:30 PM– “The Biology of Small RNA’s” at University of Delaware, Roselle Center for the Arts/Gore Recital Hall– a symposium honoring and featuring 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medalists in Life Science, Dr. Victor Ambros, Dr. Gary Ruvkun and Dr. David Baulcombe. Co-sponsored by The Franklin Institute, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, iDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research; Office of the Provost, University of Delaware and College of Agriculture, University of Delaware.

9:00 AM–12 Noon – “Current Topics in Robotics and Computer Vision” at University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Science/Berger Auditorium – a symposium on Robotics honoring 2008 Bower Award Winner for Achievement in Science, Dr. Takeo Kanade. Speakers include Dr. Kanade, Professor Matthew T. Mason, Carnegie Mellon University, Professor Camillo J. Taylor, University of Pennsylvania. Co-sponsored by The Franklin Institute, the GRASP Laboratory and Dept. of Computer & Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Thursday, April 17:

8:00 AM – 1:30 PM – “The Development of Computer Relaying and Phasor Measurement Technologies” at Drexel University/Edmund D. Bossone Research Center Auditorium – a symposium honoring 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medalists in Electrical Engineering, Dr. Arun Phadke and Dr. James Thorp.Speakers include Drs. Phadke and Thorp, Mark G. Adamiak, PE/GE Multilin; Stanley H. Horowitz, Consultant & Former Head of System Protection, AEP; Dr. Daniel Karlsson, Gothia Power, AB, Professor Willis F. Long, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Co-sponsored by The Franklin Institute, Drexel University College of Engineering, American Electric Power, GE Multilin, Gothia Power AB, Sweden, PECO and Quanta Services.

9:00 AM-12:30 PM – “The BCS-BEC Crossover in Cold Atoms” at the University of Pennsylvania, Carolyn Lynch Lecture Hall – a symposium honoring 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medalist in Physics, Dr. Deborah Jin. Speakers include Dr. Jin, Professor Murray Holland, University of Colorado, Professor Randall Hulet, Rice University, Professor Kathryn Levin, University of Chicago. Co-sponsored by The Franklin Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania.

10:30 AM – 2:30 PM – “Advances in Probabilistic Reasoning and Causal Inference” at the University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science – a symposium honoring 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medalist in Computer and Cognitive Science, Dr. Judea Pearl. Speakers include Dr. Pearl, Professor A. Philip Dawid, University of Cambridge, Professor Michael I. Jordan, University of California, Berkeley, Professor Michael Kearns, University of Pennsylvania. Co-Sponsored by The Franklin Institute and the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science & Dept. of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania.

Friday, April 18:

10:00 AM – 12 Noon – “Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss-and the Myths and Realities of Dieting,”at the Patent Library of The Franklin Institute – a lecture and book signing by Host of this year’s Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony, author and senior writer for The New York Times, Gina Kolata.

These special events provide a rare window of opportunity for young people and interested adults to meet and mingle with some of the most brilliant minds in science, business and technology in the world today. The culmination of this exciting week celebrating science is the Awards Ceremony and Dinner, generously presented by Bank of America on Thursday evening, April 17th throughout The Franklin Institute. Awards Week Sponsor and Associate Sponsor of The Franklin Institute’s Awards Ceremony and Dinner is Cephalon, Inc. Serving as host for this elegant black-tie event will be author and New York Times senior writer, Gina Kolata.

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Additional Associate Sponsors include Centocor, Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Four Seasons Hotel, Marshview Associates, Don & Lauren Morel, Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC, William & Susan Shea and West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

For high resolution photos, video profiles and further details on The Franklin Institute Awards, please visit www.fi.edu/franklinawards/press.

The 2008 Franklin Institute Award Medalists are available for interviews. Please call Lynda Bramble at 215.448.1176 or LBramble@fi.edu

OVERVIEW THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE AWARDS

History

The Franklin Institute’s recognition of achievements in science and technology dates to its founding in 1824. As the nation’s largest city and its center of innovation and manufacturing, Philadelphia was a natural home for the Institute, which was established to train artisans and mechanics in the fundamentals of science. The Institute soon began arranging a series of regular exhibitions of manufactured goods, and as part of that began presenting awards to recognize excellence in those areas.

In 1874 the all-volunteer Franklin Institute Committee on Science and the Arts began selecting Franklin Institute Award recipients. The Committee continues its work to this day, recognizing the fields of chemistry, computer and cognitive sciences, earth and environmental science, engineering, life science and physics with Benjamin Franklin Medals, among the oldest and most prestigious science awards in the world.

Supplementing the Franklin Medals are the two newest Franklin Institute Awards: the Bower Award for Achievement in Science and the Bower Award for Business Leadership, made possible by a $7.5 million bequest from the noted Philadelphia chemical engineer Henry Bower. One of the most robust science prizes in the country, the Bower Award for Achievement in Science carries a cash prize of $250,000.

Laureates of The Franklin Institute are brought to Philadelphia each April for a weeklong series of events and activities aimed at familiarizing students and the community with their remarkable accomplishments, and what the effects they might have on the future. The week culminates with a grand awards ceremony and elegant dinner, befitting the honor and distinction of this historic awards program.

The list of Franklin Institute Award laureates is a roster of science and technology’s most important and influential names over the last two centuries, men and women who have deepened human knowledge at both the basic and the applied levels. Many of them have also been recipients of the Nobel Prize. This list includes Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Marie and Pierre Curie, Thomas Edison, Jane Goodall, Orville Wright, Stephen Hawking, Francis Crick and James Watson, and Jacques Cousteau.

Mission

The Franklin Institute’s mission is to inspire an understanding of and passion for science and technology learning. Encouraging excellence and recognizing the far reaching impact of the laureates’ achievements is one important way to preserve the legacy of Benjamin Franklin.

Through the Franklin Institute Awards, we seek to broaden public awareness and encourage an understanding of the worlds of science and technology. Accordingly, the work of nominated individuals is evaluated on the basis of uncommon insight, skill and creativity, as well as its ability to impact the future or have some public benefit. In addition to celebrating the ‘Franklins’ of today, The Franklin Institute hopes to also inspire and influence the ‘Franklins’ of tomorrow.

Albert Eschenmoser receives the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry for his lifetime of research into the structures of a cell's nucleic acids -- which carry genetic information -- and his contributions to understanding just why RNA and DNA have the structures they do.

It is one thing to determine the structure of a complex molecule like DNA -- which if stretched straight would be some 2 meters long -- or Vitamin B12; it is another to make copies of such biologically-important things and understand them so well as to know why they formed in nature as they did. Through his seminal efforts devising how to create such complicated molecules in the lab, Albert Eschenmoser has begun to answer the question of why RNA and DNA have the shape they do, and for this he is awarded the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry.

Arun G. Phadke and James S. Thorp receive the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their contributions to microprocessor controllers in electric power systems that, with their power to monitor and protect components of the power grid, have significantly decreased power blackouts

As modern civilization has grown more dependent on electricity and electrical systems, maintaining control and security of the power grid has become all the more difficult. By creating microprocessors that draw on a wide range of technologies from broadband communications to GPS, Arun Phadke and James Thorp have been key players in improving system monitoring and in pre-empting power outages before they happen. Phadke and Thorp are awarded the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their seminal work to help provide this protection.

James Thorp - James S. Thorp and Arun G. Phadke receive the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their contributions to microprocessor controllers in electric power systems that, with their power to monitor and protect components of the power grid, have significantly decreased power blackouts.

Power grids have gotten larger and more complex with society’s changing needs, but keeping tabs on such vast systems in real-time requires ever-more ingenious techniques. Along with Arun Phadke, James Thorpe has revolutionized the protection and control of such large-scale power systems by introducing methods of highly-synchronized, highly-precise measurement techniques that -- equally important -- can quickly send the information for analysis. For this seminal work increasing control, observability and security of power grids, Thorp and Phadke are awarded the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering.

David Baulcombe

The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science is awarded to Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe for their discovery of small RNAs that turn genes off, a process called gene silencing. By providing an all-new understanding of how genes are regulated, they opened the door to the control genes for improvements in agriculture and human health.

Understanding how DNA and RNA works inside plants and animals has far-reaching effects on combating disease, raising virus-resistant crops and extending the longevity of cells – and people. The paradigm of that understanding was well-entrenched in the 1990s, before David Baulcombe’s research helped flip it over. Baulcombe showed that small snippets of RNA -- the existence of such small RNA itself was a fairly new discovery by Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun -- could keep other genes from doing their job, a mechanism known as silencing. For this work, Baulcombe shares the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science.

Victor Ambros - The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science is awarded to Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe for their discovery of small RNAs that turn genes off, a process called gene silencing. By providing an all-new understanding of how genes are regulated, they opened the door to the control of genes for improvements in agriculture and human health.

The genes inside cells churn out proteins to govern all its systems -- from how to build cellular structures to whether a cell lives or dies – and for decades RNA was thought merely to assist production of those proteins. In the early 1990s, however, Victor Ambros helped flip this outdated concept of gene regulation when he discovered tiny strands of RNA some 20 nucleotides long, which could turn genes off and prevent them from functioning. For this work showing that the role of RNA had a much wider scope than previously thought, done in parallel with research by Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe, the three men receive the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science.

Gary Ruvkun - The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science is awarded to Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe for their discovery of small RNAs that turn genes off, a process called gene silencing. By providing an all-new understanding of how genes are regulated, they opened the door to the control genes for improvements in agriculture and human health.

Long thought to be merely DNA’s messenger in the cell’s effort to produce life’s necessary proteins, RNA molecules have gotten a promotion over the last decade. Gary Ruvkun was one of the first to discover that certain short strands of RNA had a different job – they turned off genes. By showing RNA to be a functional unit unto itself, he helped initiate a paradigm shift in genetic understanding. Ruvkun’s work, along with that of Victor Ambros and David Baulcombe, has set off an onslaught of research to study the breadth of important tasks RNA performs inside the cell. For this he shares the 2008 Franklin Medal in Life Science.

Deborah S. Jin

Deborah Jin receives the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics for pioneering a field of study -- probing the unusual characteristics of ultra-cold fermionic atoms, which are atoms that cannot simultaneously exhibit the same quantum attributes the way other atoms can -- and creating the first gas of fermionic atoms, coaxing the particles to act as a single unit despite their normal repellence from each other.

Manipulating the world of unseeable particles and unimaginably cold temperatures, Deborah Jin has helped forge a path into a new field of physics. She created the first fermionic gas -- a heretofore unseen form of matter -- by taking normally antisocial particles called fermions and luring them into a single cohesive unit. The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics is presented to Deborah Jin for her innovative studies of fermionic atoms -- research which has spawned groups all over the world who study everything from the odd properties of atoms near absolute zero to whether we can achieve efficient superconductivity in which electricity (made of electrons which are a kind of fermion) whizzes across wires without ever losing energy.

Judea Pearl

Judea Pearl receives the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for his creation of algorithms to help compute and reason given only uncertain evidence. He has greatly advanced the world of artificial intelligence by allowing computers to uncover associations and causal connections within millions of data points

The ability to form conclusions based on numerous observations may be second nature to a human brain but it is a mind-bogglingly complex skill to program into a computer. With his seminal work creating models on learning strategies, how to reason and how to determine cause and effect, Judea Pearl's work has laid the foundation for just this kind of artificial intelligence. His research has changed the face of computer science, and for it he is awarded the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science.

Wallace Broecker

Wallace Broecker receives the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science for developing models of how the ocean circulates, how the ocean affects climate change and how the climate has changed throughout history.

The first theories that humans could affect the earth's climate appeared over 100 years ago, but it was Wallace Broecker who truly brought climate change into the scientific arena. The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science is awarded to Wallace Broecker for his seminal work studying how the ocean influences the climate, developing models of ocean circulation and helping initiate the field of global environmental science.

Bower Award Winners:

Frederick Smith

Frederick Smith receives the 2008 Bower Award for Business Leadership for conceiving of and establishing the first system of global delivery that guarantees package arrival at a certain time -- initiating the previously unheard of concept of overnight delivery. In addition, he receives the award for leading a company that is consistently heralded as an exemplary corporate citizen.

As ubiquitous as FedEx is today, delivering packages to some 220 countries at amazingly quick speeds, it's hard to remember that the idea of overnight delivery was unthinkable when Fred Smith first conceived of it. Using foresight of the digital revolution and the teamwork skills he learned in the marines, Smith took a fantastical concept and turned it into a more than 30 billion dollar company, for which the Franklin Institute awards him the 2008 Bower Award for Business Leadership.

Takeo Kanade

Takeo Kanade is awarded the 2008 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science in honor of a lifetime of ground-breaking contributions to robotics, including extensive work in image processing that has contributed to numerous real-world applications including robotic vision, fully-realized 3-D virtual worlds from 2-D images and medical technology.

From his early work in face recognition to his 3-D imaging techniques used during the Superbowl broadcast in 2001 to a new computer-assisted surgical system for hip replacement, Takeo Kanade has proven himself as a leader in the field of robotics -- for which he is presented with the 2008 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science.

View NBC’s Lester Holt, hosting 2007 Franklin Institute Awards. http://www2.fi.edu/press/epk/awards/laureates.php


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