(Above): IBM scientists, Dr. James Wynne (l) and Dr. Rangaswamy Srinivasan (c) pose with President Barack Obama at the National Medal of Technology and Innovation Awards Ceremony at the White House in Washington D.C., Feb. 1. Wynne, Srinivasan and Samuel Blum, who receives the award posthumously, were honored with the country’s most prestigious award given to leading innovators for technological achievement, for their discovery of a new form of laser surgery that enabled LASIK and PRK eye surgery. Today more than 25 million people worldwide have benefited from the procedure. This is the tenth time IBM has received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. [Photo: Rich Riggins/Feature Photo Service for IBM]
President Obama issued the prestigious National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Indian American scientist Rangaswamy Srinivasan for his work with lasers. Rangaswamy was presented with the award along with James Wynne and Samuel Blum for the discovery of excimer laser ablative photo-decomposition of animal and human tissue, laying the foundation for LASIK and PRK laser refractive surgery techniques, which have revolutionized sight enhancement. Congratulating inventors and scientists, Obama stated that if there is one thing that sets America apart from the rest of the world it is the fact that success does not depend upon an individual’s place of origin or last name.
Encouraging Innovation. Reports by the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics indicate that the recession caused the amount of breakthroughs in technology and science in the U.S. to decrease. America is currently undergoing mild economic growth but times are still hard, with the country suffering from nearly thirteen trillion dollars worth of household debt and more individuals defaulting on money owed than there has ever been before.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation has been praised for encouraging people to strive to advance the fields of technology and science in spite of the recent economic hardship. It fosters new discoveries that cement the country’s place as an innovation world leader. The fact that the economy is now on the mend means that it is the perfect time for further technological and scientific advancements to be developed and awards ceremonies are one way in which they can be promoted.
Blood, Sweat and Tears. At the award ceremony, President Obama issued twelve extraordinary scientists with the National Medal of Science and awarded ten eminent inventors the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon inventors by the United States government. He expressed the view that success depends upon the ideas that people dream up and the possibilities that they envision and also praised the blood, sweat, tears and hard work of the scientists and inventors who stood before him. The president also sought to bridge the intellectual divide by cracking a number of jokes. He noted that the complex scientific lingo used in some of the award-winning research had got a “lot of syllables” in the words.
(Above): A Lasik eye surgery in progress.
A Revolutionary Discovery. Rangaswamy Srinivasan was delighted to receive his award. In 1981, he uncovered the fact that an ultraviolet excimer laser was capable of etching living tissue in a precise manner without inflicting thermal damage upon the surrounding area. He called this phenomenon ‘ablative photo decomposition. It went on to revolutionize eye surgery. Many societies have honored him for this discovery, including the American Chemical Society and the American Physical Society, and he has previously won the 1997 Creative Invention Medal, the 1997 Esselen Medal and the 1998 Biological Physics Prize. Ablative photo-decomposition is now the technique of choice for drilling polymers such as polyimide that are used in chip packaging and ink-jet printer nozzles. Srinivasan was inducted into the United States Inventor Hall of Fame in 2002 and has spent thirty years at technology and consulting corporation IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center. He currently owns a total of twenty-one United States patents.
A Proud Day for Indian American Scientists and Inventors. The awarding of the medal to Srinivasan is a proud day for Indian American scientists and inventors and demonstrates that hard work, dedication and an innovative way of thinking eventually pay off and achieve the desired results. LASIK and PRK surgery have helped to improve the vision of countless individuals and could not have come into being if it wasn’t for the research that was conducted by Srinivasan.
Srinivasan was born in India in 1929 and arrived in the United States as a graduate student in 1953. This means that people in both India and America can take pride in his achievements and demonstrates the contribution that Indians who move to America can make to the nation, especially in the field of technological innovation.
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