The Lemelson-MIT Program awards several prizes yearly to

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The largest is the Lemelson–MIT Prize which was endowed in 1994 by

Jerome H. Lemelson Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson (July 18, 1923 – October 1, 1997) was an American engineer, inventor, and patent holder. Several of his inventions and works in the fields in which he patented have made possible, either wholly or in part, innovatio ...

, funded by the

Lemelson Foundation The Lemelson Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) private foundation. It was started in 1993 by Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife Dorothy. Origins Jerome H. Lemelson based the foundation on his personal beliefs about the role of invention and invent ...

, and is administered through the School of Engineering at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. The winner receives $500,000, making it the largest cash prize for

invention An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...

in the U.S. The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation (previously named the Award for Sustainability) was last awarded in 2013. The Award for Global Innovation replaced the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award, which was awarded from 1995 to 2006. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognized outstanding individuals whose pioneering spirit and inventiveness throughout their careers improved society and inspired others. The Lemelson-MIT Program also awards invention prizes for college students, called the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize.

List of winners

Robert_Langer_MTMLecture_2008_09_25_portrait

Source: ;2019 *

Cody Friesen Cody may refer to: People *Cody (given name) * Cody (surname) *Cody (wrestler), a ring name of Cody Runnels Places Canada *Cody, British Columbia United States * Cody, Florida *Cody (Duluth), Minnesota * Cody, Missouri * Cody, Nebraska *Cody, W ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) ;2018 *

Luis von Ahn Luis von Ahn (; born 19 August 1978) is a German-Guatemalan entrepreneur and a consulting professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is known as one of the pioneers of crowdsourcin ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) ;2017 *

Feng Zhang Feng Zhang (; born October 22, 1981) is a Chinese-American biochemist. Zhang currently holds the James and Patricia Poitras Professorship in Neuroscience at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and in the departments of Brain and Cognitive ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) ;2016 *

Ramesh Raskar Ramesh Raskar is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Associate Professor and head of the MIT Media Lab's Camera Culture research group. Previously he worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) ;2015 * Jay Whitacre (Lemelson–MIT Prize) ;2014 *

Sangeeta N. Bhatia Sangeeta N. Bhatia (born 1968) is an American biological engineer and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) ;2013 *

Angela Belcher Angela M. Belcher is a materials scientist, biological engineer, and the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) *

Rebecca Richards-Kortum Rebecca Richards-Kortum (born April 14, 1964) is an American bioengineer and the Malcolm Gillis University Professor at Rice University. She is a professor in the departments of Bioengineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and she is t ...

and Maria Oden (Lemelson–MIT Award for Global Innovation) ;2012 *

Stephen Quake Stephen Ronald Quake (born 1969) is an American scientist, inventor and entrepreneur. He earned his B.S. in physics and M.S. in mathematics from Stanford in 1991 and his D.Phil. in physics from Oxford University in 1994 as a Marshall Scholar. H ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) (Scientist, Inventor, Entrepreneur, Professor of Biophysics and Genomics at Stanford University) *

Ashok Gadgil Ashok Gadgil (born November 15, 1950 in Mumbai, India) Is the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Chair and Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Faculty Senior Scientist and ...

(Lemelson–MIT Award for Global Innovation) ;2011 * John A. Rogers (Lemelson–MIT Prize)(Professor, Physical Chemist, and Materials Scientist at Northwestern University) *

Elizabeth Hausler Elizabeth Hausler is the founder and CEO of ''Build Change'', and a global expert on resilient housing, post-disaster reconstruction, and systems change. She is a social entrepreneur and a skilled brick, block, and stonemason. Early life Hausler ...

(Lemelson–MIT Award for Sustainability) ;2010 *

Carolyn Bertozzi Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi (born October 10, 1966) is an American chemist and Nobel laureate, known for her wide-ranging work spanning both chemistry and biology. She coined the term "bioorthogonal chemistry" for chemical reactions compatible with ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) *BP Agrawal (Lemelson–MIT Award for Sustainability) ;2009 *

Chad Mirkin Chad Alexander Mirkin (born November 23, 1963) is an American chemist. He is the George B. Rathmann professor of chemistry, professor of medicine, professor of materials science and engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and professo ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize), George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly at Northwestern University *

Joel Selanikio Joel Selanikio is a well-known American physician, attending pediatrician, and assistant professor of pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital. Education Selanikio graduated from Haverford College, Philadelphia, in 1986. He then started ...

Joel Selanikio LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelselanikio (Lemelson–MIT Award for Sustainability), CEO and co-founder,

Magpi Magpi is a software company, founded in 2003 by Joel Selanikio and Rose Donna under the name DataDyne, and is based in Washington, D.C., USA and Nairobi, Kenya. The company's origins were detailed by Selanikio in a 2013 TED talk: "The Big Data ...

, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Hospital ;2008 *

Joseph DeSimone Joseph M. DeSimone (born May 16, 1964) is an American chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur who has co-founded companies based on his research, including the American 3D printing technology company, Carbon, of which he was CEO from 2014 until No ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) * Martin Fisher (Lemelson–MIT Award for Sustainability) ;2007 *

Timothy M. Swager Timothy M. Swager (born 1961) is an American Scientist and the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research is at the interface of chemistry and materials science, with specific interests ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) *

Lee Lynd Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

(Lemelson–MIT Award for Sustainability) ;2006 *

James Fergason James Lee Fergason (January 12, 1934 – December 9, 2008) was an American inventor and business entrepreneur. A member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Fergason is best known for his work on an improved Liquid Crystal Display, or LCD. He ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) for his liquid crystal display innovations. *

Sidney Pestka Sidney Pestka (May 29, 1936 – December 22, 2016) was an American biochemist and geneticist. A recipient of the National Medal of Technology, he is sometimes referred to as the "father of interferon" for his groundbreaking work developing the in ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) ;2005 *

Robert Dennard Robert Heath Dennard (born September 5, 1932) is an American electrical engineer and inventor. Biography Dennard was born in Terrell, Texas, U.S. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University, ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) ;2004 *

Nick Holonyak Nick Holonyak Jr. ( ; November 3, 1928September 18, 2022) was an American engineer and educator. He is noted particularly for his 1962 invention and first demonstration of a semiconductor laser diode that emitted visible light. This device was t ...

Jr. (Lemelson–MIT Prize) (John Bardeen Endowed Chair Emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) *

Edith M. Flanigen Edith Marie Flanigen (born January 28, 1929) is a noted American chemist, known for her work on synthesis of emeralds, and later zeolites for molecular sieves at Union Carbide. Early life and education Edith Marie Flanigen was born January 28, ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) ;2003 *

Leroy Hood Leroy "Lee" Edward Hood (born October 10, 1938) is an American biologist who has served on the faculties at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Washington. Hood has developed ground-breaking scientific instrum ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) for his invention of four devices that have helped unlock the human genome, including the automated DNA sequencer. *

William P. Murphy Jr. William P. Murphy Jr. (born November 11, 1923) is a medical doctor and inventor of medical devices including collaborating on a flexible sealed blood bag used for blood transfusions. He is the son of the American physician William Parry Murphy ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) ;2002 *

Dean Kamen Dean Lawrence Kamen (born April 5, 1951) is an American engineer, inventor, and businessman. He is known for his invention of the Segway and iBOT, as well as founding the non-profit organization FIRST with Woodie Flowers. Kamen holds over 1,000 ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) for his invention of the

Segway The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, subsequently as the Segway PT, and manufactured by Segway Inc. ''HT'' is an initialism for "human transp ...

and of an infusion pump for diabetics. *

Ruth R. Benerito Ruth Mary Rogan Benerito (January 12, 1916 – October 5, 2013) was an American chemist and inventor known for her work related to the textile industry, notably including the development of wash-and-wear cotton fabrics. She held 55 patents. Pe ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) ;2001 *

Raymond Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) (Author, Computer scientist, Inventor and Futurist at Google) *

Raymond Damadian Raymond Vahan Damadian (March 16, 1936 – August 3, 2022) was an American physician, medical practitioner, and inventor of an NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) scanning machine. Damadian's research into sodium and potassium in living cells led ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) for his work in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). ;2000 *

Thomas Fogarty Dr. Thomas J. "Tom" Fogarty (born February 25, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American surgeon and medical device inventor. He is best known for the invention of the embolectomy catheter (or balloon catheter), which revolutionized the treatment o ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) * Al Gross (Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) for his invention of the first walkie-talkie, CB radio, the telephone pager, and the cordless telephone. ;1999 *

Carver Mead Carver Andress Mead (born May 1, 1934) is an American scientist and engineer. He currently holds the position of Gordon and Betty Moore Professor Emeritus of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) * Stephanie Kwolek (Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) for her work on liquid-crystalline polymers and the development of the armored fabric

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

. ;1998 *

Robert Langer Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng (born August 29, 1948) is an American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and one of the twelve Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was formerly the Germeshau ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) (David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) *

Jacob Rabinow Jacob Rabinow (January 8, 1910 – September 11, 1999) was an engineer and inventor. He earned a total of 229 U.S. patents on a variety of mechanical, optical and electrical devices. Biography Rabinow was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on January 8, 1 ...

(Lemelson–MIT 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. ;1997 *

Douglas Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...

(Lemelson–MIT Prize) (computer and Internet pioneer) for his invention of the computer mouse. *

Gertrude Elion Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion (January 23, 1918 – February 21, 1999) was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovat ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) for the following inventions: **

6-mercaptopurine Mercaptopurine (6-MP), sold under the brand name Purinethol among others, is a medication used for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Specifically it is used to treat acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), Crohn's d ...

(Purinethol), the first treatment for leukemia. **

azathioprine Azathioprine (AZA), sold under the brand name Imuran, among others, is an immunosuppressive medication. It is used in rheumatoid arthritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus, ...

(Imuran), the first immunosuppressive agent, used for organ transplants. **

allopurinol Allopurinol is a medication used to decrease high blood uric acid levels. It is specifically used to prevent gout, prevent specific types of kidney stones and for the high uric acid levels that can occur with chemotherapy. It is taken by mouth ...

(Zyloprim), for gout. **

pyrimethamine Pyrimethamine, sold under the brand name Daraprim among others, is a medication used with leucovorin (leucovorin is used to decrease side effects of pyrimethamine; it does not have intrinsic anti-parasitic activity) to treat the parasitic dise ...

(Daraprim), for malaria. **

trimethoprim Trimethoprim (TMP) is an antibiotic used mainly in the treatment of bladder infections. Other uses include for middle ear infections and travelers' diarrhea. With sulfamethoxazole or dapsone it may be used for ''Pneumocystis'' pneumonia in peop ...

(Septra), for

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, and bacterial infections of the urinary and respiratory tracts. **

acyclovir Aciclovir (ACV), also known as acyclovir, is an antiviral medication. It is primarily used for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections, chickenpox, and shingles. Other uses include prevention of cytomegalovirus infections following t ...

(Zovirax), for

herpes simplex virus Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), also known by their taxonomical names ''Human alphaherpesvirus 1'' and '' Human alphaherpesvirus 2'', are two members of the human ''Herpesviridae'' family, a set of viruses that produce viral inf ...

infection. ;1996 *

Stanley Norman Cohen Stanley Norman Cohen (born February 17, 1935) is an American geneticist and the Kwoh-Ting Li Professor in the Stanford University School of Medicine. Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer were the first scientists to transplant genes from one livin ...

(Co-recipient, Lemelson–MIT Prize) for the development of methods to combine and transplant genes. *

Herbert Boyer Herbert Wayne "Herb" Boyer (born July 10, 1936) is an American biotechnologist, researcher and entrepreneur in biotechnology. Along with Stanley N. Cohen and Paul Berg he discovered a method to coax bacteria into producing foreign proteins, ther ...

(Co-recipient, Lemelson–MIT Prize) for the development of methods to combine and transplant genes. *

Wilson Greatbatch Wilson Greatbatch (September 6, 1919 – September 27, 2011) was an American engineer and pioneering inventor. He held more than 325 patents and was a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Lemelson–MIT Prize ...

(Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) for the development of batteries for the early implantable cardiac pacemakers. ;1995 * William Bolander (Lemelson–MIT Prize) * William Hewlett (Co-recipient, Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award) *

David Packard David Packard ( ; September 7, 1912 – March 26, 1996) was an American electrical engineer and co-founder, with Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard (1939), serving as president (1947–64), CEO (1964–68), and chairman of the board (1964–6 ...

(Co-recipient, Lemelson–MIT Lifetime Achievement Award)

References

External links

Lemelson–MIT Program Official WebsiteLemelson–MIT Program: Winner's CircleLemelson–MIT Program: Lemelson–MIT Prize
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemelson-MIT Prize Invention awards Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lifetime achievement awards

List of winners

See also

References

External links