The Elmer A. Sperry Award, named after the inventor and entrepreneur, is an American

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

prize. It has been given since 1955 for "a distinguished engineering contribution which, through application, proved in actual service, has advanced the art of transportation whether by land, sea, air, or space." The prize is given jointly by the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) is a global professional society that provides a forum for the advancement of the engineering profession as applied to the marine field. Although it particularly names the naval archit ...

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, and the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

(which administers it). The purpose of the award is to encourage progress in the engineering of transportation.

Recipients

Source
Elmer A. Sperry award
*1955 William Francis Gibbs, for the development of the

SS United States SS ''United States'' is a retired ocean liner built between 1950 and 1951 for the United States Lines at a cost of (equivalent to $ million in ). The ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fast ...

*1956 Donald W. Douglas, for the DC series of air transport planes *1957 Harold L. Hamilton, Richard M. Dilworth and Eugene W. Kettering, for developing the

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...

*1958

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswag ...

(in memoriam) and

Heinz Nordhoff Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff (6 January 1899 – 12 April 1968) was a German engineer who led the Volkswagen company as it was rebuilt after World War II. Life and career Nordhoff was born in Hildesheim, the son of a banker. He graduated from the Tech ...

, for development of the

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

automobile *1959 Sir

Geoffrey De Havilland Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built,D ...

, Major

Frank Halford Major Frank Bernard Halford CBE FRAeS (7 March 1894 – 16 April 1955) was an English aircraft engine designer. He is best known for the series of de Havilland Gipsy engines, widely used by light aircraft in the 1920s and 30s. Career Educat ...

(in memoriam) and Charles C. Walker, for the first jet-powered passenger aircraft and engines *1960

Frederick Darcy Braddon Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederic ...

Sperry Gyroscope Company Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

, for the three-axis gyroscopic navigational reference *1961

Robert Gilmore LeTourneau Robert Gilmour LeTourneau (November 30, 1888 – June 1, 1969), born in Richford, Vermont, he was a prolific inventor of earthmoving machinery and the founder of LeTourneau Technologies, Inc. His factories supplied LeTourneau machines which re ...

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled ...

, for large capacity earth moving equipment and giant size tires *1962 Lloyd J. Hibbard, for applying the

ignitron An ignitron is a type of gas-filled tube used as a controlled rectifier and dating from the 1930s. Invented by Joseph Slepian while employed by Westinghouse, Westinghouse was the original manufacturer and owned trademark rights to the name "Ignit ...

rectifier to railroad motive power *1963 Earl A. Thompson, for design and development of the first successful automatic automobile transmission *1964

Igor Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (russian: И́горь Ива́нович Сико́рский, p=ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitʃ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj, a=Ru-Igor Sikorsky.ogg, tr. ''Ígor' Ivánovich Sikórskiy''; May 25, 1889 – October 26, 1972)Fortie ...

and Michael E. Gluhareff,

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923 and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian and military use. Pre ...

Division,

United Aircraft Corporation The PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) () is a Russian Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense corporation. With a majority stake belonging to the Russian government, it consolidates Russian private and state-owned Russian ...

, for developing the high-lift helicopter leading to the Skycrane *1965 Maynard Pennell, Richard L. Rouzie, John E. Steiner, William H. Cook and Richard L. Loesch, Jr., Commercial Airplane Division,

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

, for the design and manufacture of the family of jet transports, including the 707,

720 __NOTOC__ Year 720 ( DCCXX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 720 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

and 727 *1966

Hideo Shima was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train (Shinkansen). Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering. His father was p ...

, Matsutaro Fuji and Shigenari Oishi,

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

, for developing the New Tokaido Line *1967 Edward R. Dye (in memoriam),

Hugh DeHaven Hugh DeHaven (3 March 1895 – 13 February 1980) was an American pilot, engineer and passive safety pioneer. DeHaven survived a plane crash while training as a Royal Canadian Flying Corps pilot during the First World War, and became interested in ...

and Robert A. Wolf,

Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory Calspan Corporation is a science and technology company founded in 1943 as part of the Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo, New York. Calspan consists of four primary operating units: Flight Research, Transportati ...

, for their contribution to automotive safety *1968

Christopher Cockerell Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell CBE RDI FRS (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft. Early life and education Cockerell was born in Cambridge, where his father, Sir Sydney Cocke ...

and Richard Stanton-Jones, for the development of commercially useful

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

. *1969 Douglas C. MacMillan, M. Nielsen and Edward L. Teale, Jr. for the design and construction of the

NS Savannah NS ''Savannah'' was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship. She was built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million (including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core) and launched on July 21, 1959. She was funded by Unite ...

*1970

Charles Stark Draper Charles Stark "Doc" Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) was an American scientist and engineer, known as the "father of inertial navigation". He was the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentat ...

of 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 ...

Instrumentation Laboratories, for the successful application of

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...

systems to commercial air navigation. *1971 Sedgwick N. Wight (in memoriam) and George W. Baughman, for development of Centralized Traffic Control on railways *1972 Leonard S. Hobbs and Perry W. Pratt of

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military aviat ...

, for the design and development of the Pratt & Whitney JT3 turbojet engine *1973–74 ''No award'' *1975 Jerome L. Goldman, Frank A. Nemec and James J. Henry, Friede and Goldman, Inc. and Alfred W. Schwendtner, for the design and development of barge carrying cargo vessels *1977 Clifford L. Eastburg and Harley J. Urbach, Railroad Engineering Department of the

Timken Company The Timken Company is a global manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products. Timken operates from 42 countries. Company history In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorporat ...

, for the development of tapered roller bearings for railroad and industrial use *1978 Robert Puiseux,

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

for the development of the radial tire. *1979

Leslie J. Clark Parvalux Electric Motors Ltd is a British manufacturer of fractional horsepower geared electric motors. Based in Wallisdown, Bournemouth in southern England. In December 2018, Parvalux was acquired by maxon motor AG. History The name ‘Parvalux ...

, for his contributions to the conceptualization and initial development of the sea transport of

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

*1980

William M. Allen William McPherson Allen (September 1, 1900 – October 28, 1985) was an American businessman in the aviation industry who served as the President of Boeing from 1945 to 1968. Life and career Born in Lolo, Montana, he attended the University of M ...

, Malcolm T. Stamper, Joseph F. Sutter and Everette L. Webb, Boeing, for the introduction of widebody commercial jet aircraft *1981 Edward J. Wasp, for his development of long distance pipeline slurry transport of coal and other finely divided solid materials. *1982 Jörg Brenneisen, Ehrhard Futterlieb, Joachim Körber, Edmund Müller, G. Reiner Nill, Manfred Schulz, Herbert Stemmler and Werner Teich, for their development of solid state adjustable frequency induction motor transmission for diesel and electric motor locomotives *1983 Sir George Edwards; General

Henri Ziegler Henri Ziegler CVO, CBE (18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president. Life and legacy An engineer, graduate of the École Polytechnique and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national a ...

; Sir

Stanley Hooker Sir Stanley George Hooker, CBE, FRS, DPhil, BSc, FRAeS, MIMechE, FAAAS, (30 September 1907 – 24 May 1984) was a mathematician and jet engine engineer. He was employed first at Rolls-Royce where he worked on the earliest designs such as ...

, (in memoriam); Sir

Archibald Russell Sir Archibald Russell, CBE, FRS (30 May 1904 – 29 May 1995) was a British aerospace engineer who worked most of his career at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, before becoming managing director of the Filton Division when Bristol merged into Brit ...

; and

André Turcat Major André Édouard Turcat (23 October 1921 – 4 January 2016) was a French Air Force pilot and test pilot celebrated for flying the first prototype of Concorde for its maiden flight. Turcat was born on 23 October 1921 in Marseille (Bouches-du ...

; commemorating their outstanding international contributions to the successful introduction of commercial supersonic aircraft such as Concorde *1984 Frederick Aronowitz, Joseph E. Killpatrick, Warren M. Macek and Theodore J. Podgorski, for the development of a ring laser gyroscopic system incorporated in a new series of commercial jetliners *1985 Richard K. Quinn, Carlton E. Tripp and George H. Plude for numerous innovative design concepts and an unusual method of construction of the first 1,000 foot self-unloading Great Lakes vessel, the M/V ''Stewart J. Cort'' *1986 George W. Jeffs, Dr. William R. Lucas, Dr. George E. Mueller, George F. Page, Robert F. Thompson and John F. Yardley, for their contributions to the concept and achievement of a reusable

Space Transportation System The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo program. ...

*1987 Harry R. Wetenkamp, for his contributions toward the development of curved plate railroad wheel designs *1988 John Alvin Pierce, for his work on the

OMEGA Navigation System OMEGA was the first global-range radio navigation system, operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner nations. It was a hyperbolic navigation system, enabling ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving very low ...

*1989

Harold E. Froehlich Harold Edward "Bud" Froehlich (July 13, 1922 – May 19, 2007) was an American engineer who helped design the ''DSV Alvin, Alvin'', a deep-diving exploratory submarine that has been used to find a lost atomic bomb and explore the wreck of the ''T ...

Charles B. Momsen Charles Bowers Momsen (June 21, 1896 – May 25, 1967), List of military figures by nickname#S, nicknamed "Swede", was born in Flushing, Queens, Flushing, New York (state), New York. He was an American pioneer in submarine rescue for the United S ...

, Jr., and Allyn C. Vine, for their development of the deep-diving submarine,

DSV Alvin ''Alvin'' (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Grou ...

*1990

Claud M. Davis Claud M. Davis (August 23, 1924 – May 5, 2020) was an American engineer, inventor, and employee of the IBM Corporation at Poughkeepsie, New York. He was known for his contributions to the development of the IBM System/360Natalie Boike (2009)Mainf ...

, Richard B. Hanrahan, John F. Keeley, and James H. Mollenauer, for their development of the Federal Aviation Administration enroute air traffic control system *1991 Malcom Purcell McLean, for his work on intermodal containerization *1992 Daniel K. Ludwig (in memoriam) for the development of the modern supertanker *1993 Heinz Leiber, WolfDieter Jonner and Hans Jürgen Gerstenmeier,

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch and stylized as BOSCH, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 9 ...

for the development of the

Anti-lock braking system An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a safety anti-skid braking system used on aircraft and on land vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. ABS operates by preventing the wheels from locking up during braking, thereby maintaini ...

in motor vehicles *1994 Russell G. Altherr, for the development of a slackfree connector for articulated railroad freight cars *1995 ''No award'' *1996 Thomas G. Butler (in memoriam) and Richard H. MacNeal(in memoriam), for the development

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Structural Analysis (NASTRAN) as a working tool for

finite element The finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat t ...

computation *1997 ''No award'' *1998

Bradford Parkinson Bradford Parkinson (February 16, 1935) is an American engineer and inventor, retired United States Air Force Colonel and Emeritus Professor at Stanford University. He is best known as the lead architect, advocate and developer, with early contribu ...

, for the development of the

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

(GPS) for the precise navigation of transportation vehicles *1999 ''No award'' *2000 The staff of

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

and

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

between 1965 and 1981 who created the initial

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

High Speed Rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

System *2001 ''No award'' *2002

Raymond Pearlson Raymond Pearlson (born 2 March 1926) is an American marine engineer and the inventor of the Syncrolift System, which was designed to both launch ships and lift them out of the water for repair. Biography Pearlson was born in 1926 in New York City. ...

, for the development of a new system for lifting ships out of the water for repair *2003 ''No award'' *2004 Josef Becker, for the development of the Rudderpropeller, a combined propulsion and steering system *2005 Victor Wouk, for his development of gasoline engine-electric motor hybrid-drive systems for automobiles and his achievements in small, lightweight electric power supplies and batteries technology *2006

Antony Jameson Guy Antony Jameson, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, FREng (born 20 November 1934, Gillingham, Kent) is Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. Jameson is known for his pioneering work in the field of comp ...

, for his

computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

design. *2007 Robert F. Cook, Peter T. Mahal, Pam L. Phillips, and James C. White, for their work in developing

Engineered Materials Arresting System An engineered materials arrestor system, engineered materials arresting system (EMAS), or arrester bed is a bed of engineered materials built at the end of a runway to reduce the severity of the consequences of a runway excursion. Engineered ma ...

s (EMAS) for airport

runway safety area A runway safety area (RSA) or runway end safety area (RESA) is defined as "the surface surrounding the runway prepared or suitable for reducing the risk of damage to airplanes in the event of an undershoot, overshoot, or excursion from the runway. ...

s. *2008 Thomas P. Stafford, Glynn S. Lunney, Aleksei A. Leonov, Konstantin D. Bushuyev, for their work on the Apollo-Soyuz mission and the Apollo-Soyuz docking interface design *2009

Boris Popov Boris Nikitich Popov (russian: Борис Никитич Попов, born 21 March 1941) is a Russian water polo player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1964 Summer Olympics. Career In 1964 he was a member of the Soviet team whic ...

, for the development of the ballistic parachute system allowing the safe descent of disabled aircraft *2010 Takuma Yamaguchi, for his invention of the ARTICOUPLE to allow an articulated tug and barge (AT/B) waterborne transportation system *2012 Zigmund Bluvband, President, ALD Group and Herbert Hecht, Chief Engineer, SoHaR Incorporated *2013 C. Donald Bateman, for his development of Honeywell’s Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) *2014 Alden J. "Doc" Laborde, Bruce G. Collipp and Alan C. McClure, for their technological developments in offshore oil and gas exploration and production in deep waters *2015 Michael Sinnet and the

Boeing 787 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

-8 development team, for their work on the Boeing 787-8 *2016 Harri Kulovaara, for introducing developments to enhance the efficiency, safety and environmental performance of cruise ships *2017 Bruno Murari, in recognition of his engineering achievements at

STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics N.V. commonly referred as ST or STMicro is a Dutch multinational corporation and technology company of French-Italian origin headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva, Switzerland and listed on the French stock market. ST ...

. *2018

Panama Canal Authority The Panama Canal Authority ( es, Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP)) is the agency of the government of Panama responsible for the operation and management of the Panama Canal. The ACP took over the administration of the canal from the Panama ...

, for planning and successfully managing a program to undertake and complete a massive infrastructure project, the “Expansion of the Panama Canal.” *2019 George A. (Sandy) Thomson, in recognition of leading the innovation fo
water-lubricated polymer propeller shaft bearings
for marine transport thereby eliminating the requirement for oil lubrication. *2020 To Dominique Roddier, Christian Cermelli, and Alexia Aubault for the development of WindFloat, a floating foundation for offshore wind turbines. *2021 To Michimasa Fujino in recognition of his singular achievement of research and development of new technologies for business aviation including the Over-the-Wing Engine Mount and Natural Laminar Flow airfoil, and the introduction to the market of commercial aircraft based on these technologies through the formation of HondaJet.

References

Elmer A. Sperry Award official site

Elmer A. Sperry Award at ASCE
{{ASME Transportation engineering Awards established in 1955 Awards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1955 establishments in the United States Awards of the American Society of Civil Engineers IEEE awards

Recipients

See also

References