Obama Awards National Science, Technology Medals

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama linked scientific discovery to helping the struggling economy Wednesday as he honored those who invented batteries for implanted defibrillators, mapped the human genetic code, and made global positioning systems possible.

Awarding the National Medal of Science and the Medal of Technology and Innovation, Obama said the United States must continue to invest in "the next generation of discoveries and the next generation of discoverers."

Repeating his pledge to put thousands more students in college classrooms, he committed to spending 3 percent of the gross domestic product to educate future scientists and researchers.

Among those honored was Dr. Francis Collins, Obama's director of the National Institutes of Health, who mapped the human genome. The president also honored the IBM Corp. for its supercomputers and a pair of Adobe Systems Inc. officials for changing how Americans use their computers to find information.

Other medal recipients included scientists who created the ventilator and batteries for implanted defibrillators, whose research helped others understand brain functions and addiction, and who studied genetic links with skin diseases.

"So this nation owes all of you an enormous debt of gratitude far greater than any medal can bestow."

From The Associated Press
View Full Article