SRI International

SRI International is one of the world's largest contract research institutions. It was founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 by a small group of business executives in conjunction with Stanford University as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. Later it became fully independent and was incorporated as a non-profit organization under U.S. and California laws. Its headquarters are in Menlo Park, California, near Stanford University. Curtis Carlson, Ph.D., is currently President and CEO of SRI International.

SRI International has more than 1,000 patents and patent applications worldwide. SRI International conducts research and development in many areas, both independently and for hire, and sells reports on independent research.

In 1970, the Stanford Research Institute formally separated from Stanford University, and in 1977, became known as SRI International. This was a belated response to anti-war student protesters who believed that SRI's DARPA-funded work was essentially making Stanford part of the military-industrial complex.

Projects

1940s

In 1948, SRI began research and consultation with the petroleum company Chevron to develop an artificial substitute for tallow and coconut oil used in making soaps. SRI's investigation confirmed the potential of dodecyl benzene as a suitable replacement, and later Procter & Gamble used the substance as the basis of their highly successful household detergent, Tide.

1950s

In the early 1950s, the Disney brothers sought SRI's advice regarding a small amusement park called Disneyland which they intended to build in Burbank, California. SRI provided them information on such topics as location, attendance patterns, and economic feasibility. SRI also selected a much larger site, in Anaheim, and prepared reports covering many aspects of operation. They also provided on-site administrative support and continued an advisory role for some time as the park expanded.

In 1952, the Technicolor Corporation contracted with SRI to develop a near-instantaneous electro-optical alternative to the manual process of timing during film copying. In 1959, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented the Scientific and Engineering Award jointly to SRI and the Technicolor Corporation for their work on the design and development of the Technicolor electronic printing timer which greatly benefited the motion picture industry.

In 1954, Southern Pacific asked SRI to investigate ways of reducing the losses due to damage during rail freight shipments by mitigating shocks to loaded railroad box cars. This investigation led to the development of the Hydra-Cushion technology which remains standard to this day.

In the 1950s, SRI worked under the direction of the Bank of America to develop MICR, an automated check processing system with magnetic ink encoding. It is an industry standard.

1960s

In 1964, Bill English, then the chief engineer at SRI, built the first prototype of a computer mouse.

In the 1960s, liquid crystal display (LCD) technology was developed at RCA Laboratories, now SRI's wholly-owned subsidiary, the Sarnoff Corporation.

From 1966 through 1972, SRI's Artificial Intelligence Center developed the first mobile robot to reason about its actions. Named "Shakey", the robot had a television camera, a triangulating range finder, and bump sensors. Shakey the Robot used software for perception, world-modeling, and acting.

SRI International researchers also developed the world's first and only all-magnetic digital computer, based upon extensions to magnetic core memories.

ARPANET

In 1969, ARPANET, the world's first electronic computer network, was established on October 29 between nodes at Leonard Kleinrock's lab at UCLA and Douglas Engelbart's lab at SRI. Interface Message Processors at both sites served as the backbone of the first Internet ^*.

In addition to SRI and UCLA, UCSB, and the University of Utah were part of the original four network nodes. By December 5, 1969, the entire 4-node network was connected.

1970s

In the 1970s, SRI went on to develop many other technologies, including packet-switched radio (the precursor to today's wireless networking), over-the-horizon radar, Deafnet, malaria treatments, vacuum microelectronics, Laser Photocoagulation (a treatment for some eye maladies), and software-implemented fault tolerance.

In 1972, Dr. Harold E. Puthoff, a researcher at SRI, put forth a series of proposals to study quantum mechanics in life processes. This resulted in the now controversial remote viewing CIA programs that have been reportedly discontinued and partially declassified since. Douglas C. Engelbart, best known for inventing the computer mouse, and as a pioneer of human-computer interaction, is arguably SRI's most notable alumnus.

1980s

In the 1980s, SRI developed, among other things, Zylon, stealth technologies, improvements to ultrasound imaging, FRASTAscope, frequency modulation spectroscopy, two-dimensional laser fluorescence imaging, surface analysis by laser ionization (SALI), a multimedia electronic mail system, intrusion detection expert systems, theory of noninterference in computer security, a multilevel secure (MLS) relational database system called SeaView, LaTeX, and order-sorted algebra.

External link

SRI International website

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