Announcing the Franklin Institute Awards

Bower Award and Prize for Science Achievement

HENRI B. KAGAN, PH.D.

Universite Paris-Sud

Orsay, France

For his seminal discovery of fundamental chemical principles that explain the impact of catalyst shape on its effectiveness in controlling chemical reactions, thus greatly simplifying the manufacture of pharmaceutically important compounds.

Dr. Kagan studied at the Sorbonne in Paris before receiving his Ph.D. from the College of France in 1960. After a nearly 40-year career at the Universite Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, he now serves as an emeritus professor.

His career has spanned the world, and he continues to be an active visiting lecturer, author, and enthusiastic mentor to young chemists.

Bower Award for Business Leadership

ALEJANDRO ZAFFARONI, PH.D.

ALZA Corporation, Mountain View, CA

Alexza MDC, Mountain View, CA

For the creation, through a combination of scientific creativity and entrepreneurial insight and drive, has created new biochemical processes, drug delivery technologies--most significantly, the birth control pill, transdermal patches, and once-a-day pills--and biomedical industries.

He has leveraged his business successes so that he is broadly respected as a philanthropist and technical leader.

Dr. Zaffaroni received his B.Sc. in 1941 from the University of Montevideo, Uruguay, and his Ph.D. in 1949 from the University of Rochester. He began his career at Syntex, a small pharmaceutical business in Mexico, which he helped transform into a major company headquartered in the U.S. He eventually became president of Syntex Laboratories and Syntex Research Institute. Since then, Dr. Zaffaroni has founded or co-founded nine companies--ALZA, DNAX, Affymax, Affymetrix, Symyx, Maxygen, SurroMed, Perlegen Sciences, and Alexza.

Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science

ARAVIND K. JOSHI, PH.D.

University of Pennsylvania,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For his fundamental contributions to our understanding of how language is represented in the mind, and for developing techniques that enable computers to process efficiently the wide range of human languages. These advances have led to new methods for computer translation.

After receiving his B.E. in electrical and mechanical engineering from Pune University and his D.I.I.Sc. in communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, both in his home country of India, Dr. Joshi began a fruitful academic career in the United States. He received his M.S. (1958) and his Ph.D. (1960), both in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been a professor for the last 40 years. Currently Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science, Dr. Joshi is also co:founder and co-director of the University's Institute for Research in Cognitive Science.

Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science

PETER R. VAIL, PH.D.

Rice University, Houston, Texas

For his pioneering and innovative ideas for using seismic reflections to identify sequences of subsurface rock layers, greatly enhancing exploration for oil-containing rock. He also recognized that similar changes in the rock record appear worldwide and can be attributed to global changes in sea level, thus contributing to greater understanding of the earth's geological history.

Peter Vail's innovative concepts of sequence stratigraphy have had far-reaching implications for both science and commerce, revolutionizing the field of stratigraphy and greatly enhancing methods for oil exploration.

Dr. Vail received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1952 and his Ph.D. from Northwestern in 1956. Following a 30-year career with Exxon Production Research Company and its predecessors, he began a second career, as W. Maurice Ewing Professor of Oceanography at Rice University, where he taught from 1986 to 2001. Dr, Vail now uses his vast wealth of experience as president of his own business, Peter R. Vail Oil and Gas & Consulting and Investing Company.