goodenough_johnPresident Barack Obama named 12 researchers as recipients of the National Medal of Science on Friday including two University of Texas professors.
Allen Bard, a professor of chemistry, and John Goodenough, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas received the nation’s highest honor for scientists. Professor Goodenough developed materials that led to the first lithium-ion batteries. He’s also worked extensively on fuel cells. Professor Bard invented the scanning electrochemical microscope, “now used worldwide in investigations of electro-catalytic mechanism, in identification of cancerous cells, in mapping transport paths in the paths in the skin for trans-dermal drug delivery, and for lithographic patterning of surfaces” according to the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, which Bard won in 2008.
Bard_Allen_24In addition, President Obama gave 11 inventors the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. They will receive their awards at a White House ceremony in early 2013.
“I am proud to honor these inspiring American innovators,” President Obama said in a statement. “They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this Nation great—and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment.”
The full list of winners is available here.