[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9963-9964]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




REGARDING THE 2006 LAUREATES OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE'S AWARDS PROGRAM

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                           HON. CHAKA FATTAH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2006

  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate, on behalf of 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Nation, the 2006 Laureates of 
The Franklin Institute Awards Program. Ten brilliant individuals will 
be honored on April 27, 2006 in the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial 
at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, for their outstanding 
achievements in science, technology, business, and philanthropy. 
Through the outstanding leadership of The Franklin Institute, 
Philadelphia's great science museum, a 182-year tradition of 
recognizing brilliant achievement and promoting the pursuit of science 
and technology for the public good continues to inspire a passion for 
learning in millions of people each year.
  The Franklin Institute Awards Program--considered by many as the 
American version of the Nobel Prize--is one of the oldest and most 
renowned science and technology awards programs in the world. The 
program's distinguished history dates back to 1824, when the Institute 
was founded by a group of leading Philadelphians to train artisans and 
mechanics. Philadelphia, then the largest city in the United States, 
was the Nation's innovation and manufacturing center. In 1824, the 
Institute arranged the first of what became a series of regular 
exhibitions of manufactured goods and inventions.
  With these exhibitions came the presentation of awards--first 
certificates and later endowed medals--for scientific and technical 
achievement. Recipients are selected by the Institute's Committee on 
Science and the Arts, which was founded as the Committee on Inventions 
with the beginning of the program. Fields recognized today include 
Chemistry, Computer and Cognitive Science, Earth and Environmental 
Science, Engineering, Life Science and Physics. Through a rigorous and 
unique case-prosecution process, the Committee evaluates the work of 
nominated individuals whose uncommon insight, skill or creativity has 
influenced future research or applications to benefit the public.
  The newest awards, the Bower Award for Business Leadership and the 
Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science, were made possible by 
a $7.5 million bequest in 1988 from Henry Bower, a Philadelphia 
chemical manufacturer. The Bower Science Award carries a cash prize of 
$250,000, one of the richest science prizes in America.
  The list of Franklin Institute Laureates reads like a canon of 19th, 
20th and 21st century scientific achievement. The honor roll includes 
Alexander Graham Bell, Marie Curie, Rudolph Diesel, Thomas Edison, 
Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Albert Einstein and, more recently Stephen 
Hawking, David Packard, Roy Vagelos, Jane Goodall, Herb Kelleher, and 
Gordon Moore--to name a few. To date, 105 Franklin Institute Laureates 
have also been honored with 107 Nobel Prizes.
  I invite Congress and all citizens of these United States to join me 
in congratulating the newest names to be added to this roll call of 
genius:
  The winner of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, Samuel 
J. Danishefsky, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Columbia 
University, for his achievements in the art and science of synthetic 
organic chemistry, particularly for the development of strategies and 
methods for the preparation of complex natural products and related 
compounds, including oligosaccharide immunoconjugate vaccines, and 
their emerging applications in the field of cancer chemotherapy.
  The winner of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer & 
Cognitive Science, Donald A. Norman, of Northwestern University and 
Nielsen Norman Group, for his development of the field of user-centered 
design, which through the use of conceptual models, feedback, 
affordances, and constraints leads to the creation of interactive 
technologies which are easily employed by humans.
  The winners of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth & 
Environmental Science, Luna B. Leopold, of the University of California 
and M. Gordon Wolman, of The Johns Hopkins University, for advancing 
our understanding of how natural and human activities sculpt landscapes 
and influence landscape evolution. They developed the first 
comprehensive explanation of why rivers have different morphologies and 
how floodplains develop. Their contributions form the basis of process 
geomorphology, modern water resource management, and environmental 
assessment.
  I regret to inform the Members that Dr. Leopold passed away in 
February. We express our sympathy to his family and join them in 
honoring his legacy.
  Please also join me in honoring: The winner of the 2006 Benjamin 
Franklin Medal in Life Science, Fernando Nottebohm, of The Rockefeller 
University, for his discovery of neuronal replacement in the adult 
vertebrate brain, and the elaboration of the mechanism and choreography 
of this phenomenon; and also for

[[Page 9964]]

showing that neuronal stem cells are the responsible agents, thereby 
generating a completely new approach to the quest for cures for brain 
injury and degenerative disease.
  The winner of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Civil Engineering, 
Ray W. Clough, of the University of California, Berkeley, for 
revolutionizing engineering and scientific computation, and engineering 
design methods, through his contributions to the formulation and 
development of the finite element analysis method, and for his 
innovative leadership in establishing the field of earthquake 
engineering.
  The winners of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, Giacinto 
Scoles, of Princeton University and Peter Toennies, of the Max Planck 
Institute, for the development of techniques to study molecules 
embedded in superfluid helium nanodroplets by high-resolution 
spectroscopy. These techniques allowed for the investigation of 
reactive and fragile molecules that could not be examined in other 
ways, and also enabled them to study superfluid helium with 
unprecedented precision, yielding insights into superfluidity at the 
nanoscale level.
  Finally, we congratulate: The winner of the 2006 Bower Award and 
Prize for Scientific Achievement, Narain G. Hingorani, for the 
conceptualization and pioneering advancement of the Flexible 
Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) and Custom Power in 
electric power systems, and for outstanding technical contributions in 
High Voltage Direct Current Technology, which have enhanced the quality 
and security of the electric power system.
  And, the Winner of the 2006 Bower Award for Business Leadership, Ted 
Turner, for his visionary leadership in the worlds of business and 
media, as well as his philanthropic commitment to the health of our 
planet and the well being of its people.
  Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to honor these 
trailblazers. Their collective body of work has changed the course of 
modern progress and greatly improved the human condition. This year, as 
our Nation celebrates the 300th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin 
Franklin and his legacy of industry, learning, patriotism and liberty, 
it is very fitting--in the spirit of Dr. Franklin--that we recognize 
the achievements of these individuals.

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