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Ärende: Press Release (0707279) for Fri, 2007 Jul 27
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President Bush Presents Awards to 2005 and 2006 National Medal of Science
and Technology Recipients
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 27, 2007

President Bush Presents Awards to 2005 and 2006 National Medal of Science
and Technology Recipients East Room

˙ /news/releases/2007/07/20070727-9.wm.v.html ˙˙Presidential Remarks
˙˙Audio

1:44 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. Thank you. Good afternoon.
Welcome to the White House. It's an honor to welcome some of our country's
most gifted and accomplished citizens. I appreciate your work on behalf of
our nation. I congratulate you on this achievement, and I look forward to
presenting you the National Medals of Science and Technology.

I welcome your families and I welcome your friends. I also welcome the
Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Madam Secretary, thank you for
joining us today. (Applause.) Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez. Mr.
Secretary. (Applause.) Dr. Jack Marburger, who is the Director of Office of
Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Marburger. (Applause.) Dr. Arden Bement,
Director of the National Science Foundation. Arden, thank you for coming.
(Applause.) I welcome the representatives from the National Science
Foundation who have joined us, members of the Board from the National
Science and Technology Medals Foundation. Our awardees have got to be
thanking you, as well. (Laughter.)

I thank Dr. Zerhouni, Director of the National Institute of Health. Thanks
for coming, Doc. Dr. Bill Jeffrey, Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology. Appreciate all the previous recipients of the
National Medals of Science and Technology who have joined us. I thank the
students from Benjamin Banneker Academic High School here in Washington,
D.C. for being with us. I thank my friends, the Barretts, who are strong
supporters of basic research and good science, for bringing future
scientists and engineers to the White House in the hopes that this ceremony
will inspire them and others to contribute to our country like our award
winners have today.

From the earliest days, we have been a nation of innovators -- people who
look at challenges, and find creative ways to adapt and improve. There's
been some interesting examples of that attitude right here in the East
Room. For example, Abigail Adams needed a place to hang her clothes, so she
innovated and converted the East Room into a White House laundry room. Or
Theodore Roosevelt used the East Room as a roller skating rink for his
children. Gerald Ford's daughter, Susan, used this very room as the site of
her high school prom, which was well attended, I might add. (Laughter.)

This afternoon, the East Room is home to innovators of a different kind --
some of our finest science and technology leaders. The men and women we
salute have been recognized with countless honors, including the Nobel
Prize. They have served as leaders of major research foundations,
university presidents, directors of government agencies, and heads of
academic departments. And now they add to their deep and remarkable resumes
the highest award a President can confer in their fields, the National
Medals of Science and Technology. And I congratulate you.

The intellectual achievements of these men and women are momentous. In a
single room, we have thinkers who helped formulate and refine the Big Bang
theory of the universe, the "bootstrap re-sampling technique" of
statistics, the algebraic K-theory of mathematics. I'm going to play like I
understand what all that means. (Laughter.) We have experts in fields like
organometallic chemistry, atomic physics, and neurobiology. We have
researchers who have drilled into glaciers, isolated the DNA of mobile
genes, and pioneered the distributed feedback laser. In other words, we've
got some smart people here. (Laughter.) And we're glad you're Americans.
(Applause.)

Each of our Laureates has deepened our understanding of the world, and many
have directly changed our lives. Their discoveries have led to hopeful
treatments for HIV/AIDS, new vaccines to prevent childhood illnesses, safer
drinking water around the world. Innovations are responsible for the CD
players in our homes, the guardrails on our highways, the stealth fighters
in our Air Force. Their breakthroughs have helped make it possible for burn
victims to heal with fewer scars, and older people to hear more clearly,
businesses to e-mail documents around the world, and doctors to administer
medicine without needles. That's a much welcome change for a lot of us.

Whatever their chosen field, the National Laureates in Science and
Technology have brought great credit to themselves and this country. And
you have the gratitude of the American people. And that's what we're here
to tell you today.

The work of these Laureates demonstrates that innovation is vital to a
better future for our country and the world. In America, the primary engine
of innovation is the private sector. But government can help by encouraging
the basic research that gives rise to promising new thought and products.
So that's why I've worked with some in this room and around our country to
develop and propose the American Competitiveness Initiative. Over ten
years, this initiative will double the federal government's commitment to
the most critical, basic research programs in physical sciences. Last year
the Congress provided more than $10 billion, and that's just a start. And I
call on leaders of both political parties to fully fund this initiative for
the good of the country.

Maintaining our global leadership also requires a first-class education
system. There are many things that American schools are doing right --
including insisting on accountability for every single child. There are
also some areas where we need to improve. And so as members work to
reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, one of their top priorities has
got to be to strengthen math and science education.

One way to do that is to create an "adjunct teachers corps" of math and
science professionals all aiming to bring their expertise into American
classrooms. It's not really what the aim is -- the aim is to make it clear
to young Americans that being in science and engineering is okay; it's
cool; it's a smart thing to do. And so for those of you who are involved
with inspiring youngsters, thank you for what you're doing. I appreciate
you encouraging the next generation to follow in your footsteps. And I ask
that Congress fully fund the adjunct teacher corps, so you can have some
help as you go out to inspire.

One of the many reasons that I am an optimistic fellow, and I am, is
because I understand that this country is a nation of discovery and
enterprise. And that spirit is really strong in America today. I found it
interesting that one of today's Laureates, Dr. Leslie Geddes, is 86 years
old and continues to teach and conduct research at Purdue University. Even
more interesting is what he had to say. He said, "I wouldn't know what else
to do. I'm not done yet." (Laughter.)

He's right. He's not done yet, because the promise of science and
technology never runs out. With the imagination and determinations of
Americans like our awardees today, our nation will continue to discover new
possibilities and to develop new innovations, and build a better life for
generations to come. And that's what we're here to celebrate.

So I thank you for your many contributions to our nation, congratulate you
on your fine achievements. And now I ask the military aide to read the
citations. (Applause.)

(The medals are presented as the citations are read.)

2005 National Medal of Science to Jan D. Achenbach, for his seminal
contributions to engineering research and education in the area of wave
propagation in solids and for pioneering the field of quantitative
non-destructive evaluation.

2005 National Medal of Science to Ralph A. Alpher, for his unprecedented
work in the areas of nucleosynthesis, for the prediction that universe
expansion leaves behind background radiation, and for providing the model
for the Big Bang theory.

2005 National Medal of Science to Gordon H. Bower, for his unparalleled
contributions to cognitive and mathematical psychology, for his lucid
analyses of remembering and reasoning, and for his important service to
psychology and American science.

2005 National Medal of Science to Bradley Efron, for his contributions to
theoretical and applied statistics, especially the bootstrap sampling
technique; for his extraordinary geometric insight into nonlinear
statistical problems; and for applications in medicine, physics, and
astronomy.

2005 National Medal of Science to Anthony S. Fauci, for pioneering the
understanding of the mechanisms whereby the human immune system is
regulated, and for his work on dissecting the mechanisms of pathogenesis of
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that has served as the underpinning for
the current strategies for the treatment of HIV disease.

2005 National Medal of Science to Tobin J. Marks, for his pioneering
research in the areas of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis,
organo-f-element chemistry, new electronic and photonic materials, and
diverse areas of coordination and solid state chemistry.

2005 National Medal of Science to Lonnie G. Thompson, for his pioneering
research in paleoclimatology analyzing isotopic and chemical fingerprints
found in tropical ice cores from the world's highest mountain glaciers and
for his courage in collecting these disappearing climate archives that has
transformed our understanding of the natural and anthropogenic factors
influencing climate variability on our planet, past and present.

2005 National Medal of Science to Torsten N. Wiesel, for providing key
insights into the operation of the visual system and for the discovery of
the manner in which neural connections in the brain are made during the
development and how they are maintained.

2006 National Medal of Science to Hyman Bass, for his fundamental
contributions to pure mathematics, especially in the creation of algebraic
K-theory, his profound influence on mathematics education, and his service
to the mathematics research and education communities.

2006 National Medal of Science to Marvin H. Caruthers, for his work in
developing robust methods for the chemical synthesis of DNA, which has
enabled genetic engineering of new biopharmaceuticals, forensic "DNA
fingerprinting," and the human genome project.

2006 National Medal of Science to Rita R. Colwell, for her in-depth
research that has contributed to a greater understanding of the ecology,
physiology, and evolution of marine microbes, most notably Vibrio cholerae,
the causative agent of pandemic cholera, and which has elucidated critical
links between environmental and human health.

2006 National Medal of Science to Peter B. Dervan, for his fundamental
research contributions at the interface of organic chemistry and biology,
and for his influence in education and industrial innovation.

2006 National Medal of Science to Nina V. Federoff, for her pioneering work
on plant molecular biology, and for her being the first to clone and
characterize maize transposons. She has contributed to education and public
policy pertaining to recombinant DNA and genetic modification of plants.

2006 National Medal of Science to Daniel Kleppner, for his pioneering
scientific studies of the interaction of atoms and light including Rydberg
atoms, cavity quantum electrodynamics, quantum chaos; for developing
techniques that opened the way to Bose Einstein Condensation in a gas; and
for lucid explanations of physics to non-specialists and exemplary service
to the scientific community.

2006 National Medal of Science to Robert S. Langer, for his revolutionary
discoveries in the areas of polymeric controlled release systems and tissue
engineering and synthesis of new materials that have led to new medical
treatments that have profoundly affected the well being of mankind.

2006 National Medal of Science to Lubert Stryer, for his elucidation of the
biochemical basis of signal amplification in vision and pioneering the
development of high density micro-arrays for genetic analysis. His
influential biochemistry textbook has influenced and inspired millions of
students.

2005 National Medal of Technology to Alfred Y. Cho, for his contributions
to the invention of the MBE technology and the development of the MBE
technology into an advanced electronic and photonic devices production
tool, with applications to cellular phones, CD players, and high-speed
communications.

2005 National Medal of Technology to Dean L. Sicking, for his innovative
design and development of roadside and race track safety technologies that
safely dissipate the energy of high-speed crashes, helping prevent
fatalities and injuries.

2005 National Medal of Technology to Ronald Eby, Velupillai Puvanesarajah,
Dace Madore, and Maya Koster, for their work in the discovery, development
and commercialization of Prevnar, the first-ever vaccine to prevent the
deadly and disabling consequences of Streptococcus pneumoniae infections in
children.

2005 National Medal of Technology to Genzyme Corporation, for pioneering
dramatic improvements in the health of thousands of patients with rare
diseases and harnessing the promise of biotechnology to develop innovative
new therapies.

2005 National Medal of Technology to Semiconductor Research Corporation,
for building the world's largest and most successful university research
force to support the rapid growth and advance of the semiconductor
industry; for proving the concept of collaborative research as the first
high-tech research consortium; and for creating the concept and methodology
that evolved into the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.

2005 National Medal of Technology to Xerox Corporation, for over 50 years
of innovation in marking, materials, electronics, communications, and
software that created the modern reprographics, digital printing, and
print-on-demand industries.

2006 National Medal of Technology to Leslie A. Geddes, for his
contributions to electrode design and tissue restoration, which have led to
the widespread use of a wide variety of clinical devices. His discoveries
and inventions have saved and enriched thousands of lives and have formed
the cornerstone of much of the modern implantable medical device field.

2006 National Medal of Technology to Paul G. Kaminski, for his
contributions to national security through the development of advanced,
unconventional imaging from space, and for developing and fielding advanced
systems with greatly enhanced survivability. He has made a profound
difference in the national security posture and the global leadership of
the United States.

2006 National Medal of Technology to Herwig W. Kogelnik, for his pioneering
contributions and leadership in the development of the technology of
lasers, optoelectronics, integrated optics, and lightwave communication
systems that have been instrumental in driving the growth of fiber optic
transmission systems for our nation's communications infrastructure.

2006 National Medal of Technology to Charles M. Vest, for his visionary
leadership in advancing America's technological workforce and capacity for
innovation through revitalizing the national partnership among academia,
government, and industry.

2006 National Medal of Technology to James E. West, for co-inventing the
electret microphone in 1962. Ninety percent of the two billion microphones
produced annually and used in everyday items such as telephones, hearing
aids, camcorders, and multimedia computers employ electret technology.

END 2:15 P.M. EDT

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