Bush gives technology award to Ethernet inventor

U.S. President George Bush on Monday awarded the National Medal of Technology to three individuals, including Ethernet inventor and former InfoWorld Publishing CEO Robert M. Metcalfe.

InfoWorld is a unit of International Data Group, the parent company of Network World and IDG News Service.

Bush presented the awards, which also went to one technology team and two organizations, at a White House reception. The president also named eight National Medal of Science Laureates at the ceremony. The medals are the highest awards in science and technology that the U.S. president can give.

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U.S. President George Bush on Monday awarded the National Medal of Technology to three individuals, including Ethernet inventor and former InfoWorld Publishing CEO Robert M. Metcalfe.

InfoWorld is a unit of International Data Group, the parent company of Network World and IDG News Service.

Bush presented the awards, which also went to one technology team and two organizations, at a White House reception. The president also named eight National Medal of Science Laureates at the ceremony. The medals are the highest awards in science and technology that the U.S. president can give.

"All of you have been blessed with great talent and you have applied your talent to great purposes," Bush said in prepared remarks. "Your work is making our country more competitive, more hopeful and more prosperous."

Bush compared the medal winners to explorers Lewis and Clarke. "As innovators, you heard a calling to challenge the status quo," he said. "Through a lifetime of hard work, you have produced accomplishments that will endure beyond your years."

Metcalfe, a general partner at Polaris Venture Partners of Waltham, Mass., was awarded the National Medal of Technology "for leadership in the invention, standardization and commercialization of the Ethernet," according to a National Science and Technology Medals Foundation press release. Metcalfe, who wrote a popular column while he was CEOof InfoWorld, shares four Ethernet-related patents. He invented the technology while working as an engineer-scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. After working as a scientist for 14 years, he founded 3Com in 1979, then served as InfoWorld's CEO from 1990 to 2000.

Other National of Medal Technology winners Tuesday:

• Jan D. Achenbach, a Northwestern University professor and pioneer in researching ultrasonic methods for the detection of cracks and corrosion in aircraft;
• Watts S. Humphrey, founder of the Software Process Program of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University;
• A Corning team including Rodney D. Bagley, Irwin M. Lachman and Ronald M. Lewis. The group lead research into the world's first mass-produced catalytic converter for automobiles.
• UOP, for innovative petroleum refining techniques.
• Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, for supporting research, invention and investment in innovative technologies.

The National Medal of Technology recognizes people for innovation and for advancing U.S. competitiveness. This award, established by Congress in 1980, is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.