Contact: James Gardner, Executive Director of Communications, (973) 596-3440
Contact: Carla Anderson, Director of Public Relations, (973) 596-3436
For Release: Immediate
Release Reference Number: 3372
Hall of Fame Receiving Nominations for Inventor Awards Newark, N.J., August 12, 1998 – The New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame is seeking nominations for top New Jersey inventors who should be considered for Inventor of the Year, or for full induction into the Inventors Hall of Fame.
Nominations must be submitted by Oct 1. The annual award banquet, at which six people are named to the Hall of Fame, no more than six are named Inventors of the Year and one company is selected for the Corporate Invention Hall of Fame, is held in February.
Established in 1987, the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame recognizes the state's inventing heritage and provides a permanent tribute to the individuals and corporations who have worked to advance technology. Notable members include Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison.
Outstanding inventors are inducted into the Hall of Fame at an annual banquet held during the second week in February. At the same time, a select group of New Jersey inventors who hold current patents are awarded Inventor of the Year citations and one corporation is named to the Corporate Invention Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame awards are granted to inventors who have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of knowledge and human welfare. These contributions may constitute any number of inventions of lasting social, technical or economic importance. Six awards are granted annually with as many as two awards presented to Invention Pioneers.
Inventor of the Year designees are judged on the basis of one of more inventions that are covered by current U.S. patents. The Corporate Invention Hall of Fame award is granted to corporations that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to innovation, fostering the development of inventions among their employees.
Last year's award-winners include:
The Hall of Fame is headquartered at New Jersey Institute of Technology, the state's technological university. Nomination forms may be obtained by calling (973) 596-5625 or by e-mail from Millerand@admin.njit.edu.
- William Lowell (1862-1954) of South Orange: the first commercially produced golf tee.
- Quentin T. Kelly of Hopewell: solar-powered water pumping stations;
- Melvin Levinson of Edison: a set of pots and pans that can be used in microwave, conventional gas and electric ovens
- Joseph A. Abys of Warren: plating technology which replaced more costly gold plating in electronic applications
- Nikil Jayant of Gillette: and Bell Laboratories of Murray Hill, N.J., for a decoding signal that reduces noise effects in digital communications systems;
- Edwin Howard Armstrong of Alpine: FM Radio
- William O. Baker of Morristown and Bell Laboratories of Murray Hill: a "microgel" synthetic rubber used to coat communication and power cables, and later used on heat shields for missiles and re-entering satellites.
- Allen B. DuMont of Montclair and DuMont Laboratories: cathode ray tube improvements which led to innovations for radar and television as well as monitors for computers.
- Henry M. Rowan of Rancocas and Inductotherm Industries: inventions that improved induction melting practices and became an ideal power source for larger vacuum furnaces needed to produce the "super alloys" for the aircraft industry.
NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 76 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, and Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science. Yahoo! Internet Life magazine ranked NJIT the second "most wired" campus in the nation; U.S. News and World Report's 1998 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities; and Money magazine's Best College Buys 1998 rated NJIT as the third best value among U.S. science and technology schools and one of the top 100 institutions overall.
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