The Lemelson-MIT Prize, endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, and administered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is awarded to inventors from the United States for outstanding achievement. The winner receives $500,000, making it the largest invention prize.

In addition to the prize itself, prizes are also given for lifetime achievement, student inventors, and apprentice inventors.

List of winners

2005

• Elwood "Woody" Norris for his invention of a hypersonic sound system, which allows sound to be focused with laser-like precision.

2004

• Nick Holonyak, Jr.
• Edith Flanigen (Lifetime Achievement Award)
• Saul Griffith (Student Prize)

2003

• Leroy Hood for his invention of four devices that have helped unlock the human genome, including the automated DNA sequencer.
• William Murphy, Jr (Lifetime Achievement Award)
• James McLurkin 10-min. video about him on NOVA scienceNOW (Student Prize)

2002

• Dean Kamen for his invention of the Segway and of an infusion pump for diabetics.
• Ruth R. Benerito (Lifetime Achievement Award)
• Andrew Heafitz (Student Prize)
• Kavita Shukla (Invention Apprentice)

2001

• Raymond Kurzweil
• Raymond Damadian (Lifetime Achievement Award) for his work in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
• Brian Hubert (Student Prize)
• Jordan Sand (Invention Apprentice)

2000

• Thomas Fogarty
• Al Gross (Lifetime Achievement Award) for his invention of the first walkie-talkie, CB radio, the telephone pager, and the cordless telephone.
• Amy Smith (Student Prize)
• Charles Johnson (Invention Apprentice)
• Michael Lim, Jalal Khan, and Thomas Murphy received a one-time student team prize

1999

• Carver Mead
• Stephanie Kwolek (Lifetime Achievement Award) for her work on liquid-crystalline polymers and the development of the aramid fabric Kevlar.
• Daniel DiLorenzo (Student Prize)
• Krysta Morlan (Invention Apprentice)

1998

• Robert Langer
• Jacob Rabinow (Lifetime Achievement Award) for the first disc-shaped magnetic storage media for computers, the magnetic particle clutch, the first straight-line phonograph, the first self-regulating clock, and a "reading machine" which was the first to use the "best match" principle.
• Akhil Madhani (Student Prize)

1997

• Douglas Engelbart for his invention of the computer mouse.
• Gertrude Elion (Lifetime Achievement Award) for the following inventions:
  • 6-mercaptopurine (Purinethol), the first treatment for leukemia.
  • azathioprine (Imuran), the first immuno-suppressive agent, used for organ transplants.
  • allopurinol (Zyloprim), for gout.
  • pyrimethamine (Daraprim), for malaria.
  • trimethoprim (Septra), for meningitis, septicemia, and bacterial infections of the urinary and respiratory tracts.
  • acyclovir (Zovirax), for viral herpes.
• Nathan Kane (Student Prize)

1996

• Stanley Cohen (Co-recipient) for the development of methods to combine and transplant genes.
• Herbert Boyer (Co-recipient) for the development of methods to combine and transplant genes.
• Wilson Greatbatch (Lifetime Achievement Award) for the development of batteries for the early implantable cardiac pacemakers.
• David Levy (Student Prize)

1995

• William Bolander
• William Hewlett (Co-recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award)
• David Packard (Co-recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award)
• Thomas Massie (Student Prize)

See also

• List of prizes
• Prizes named after people

External links

• List of winners
• "Lemelson-MIT winner stripped of prize" (satire) page 10 of MIT VooDoo, Spring 2002

Lemelson-MIT Prize | Prizes | Massachusetts Institute of Technology