WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush presented the 2001 National Medals of Science and Technology to 20 of the nation's premier scientists and innovators in an East Room ceremony Wednesday.
"They've turned genius and perseverance into knowledge and technology that will shape lives for decades to come," Bush said. "Our honorees are the prophets of a better age."
The medallists, whose works include cancer research, solar physics studies, statistics and communications technology, have for decades been asking the questions that impact lives around the world, Bush said.
"Scientists and researchers do vital work, oftentimes doing it outside the limelight," Bush said. "It's good to shine that light on them here in the White House."
Successes such as those mentioned in the ceremony will inspire the next generation of science and technology giants, Bush said, and the country should ensure it devotes the proper resources to educating those fledgling minds. Marvin Cohen, a University of California at Berkeley researcher honored for creating theoretical models to explain the properties of matter at the atomic and subatomic levels, agreed with the president.
"If we're going to have a country producing technology and producing fundamental science that's going to be used by the whole world, we have to educate our children," Cohen told United Press International after the ceremony.
Cohen also noted the presence of a single female among the honorees.
"It's also important for us to get more young women into science," Cohen said. "The nice thing about science is it's gender-blind and blind to the differences in people; all that's involved is what goes on in your head."
Along with Cohen, the Medal of Science laureates include:
-- Andreas Acrivos, with the City College of the City University of New York, for groundbreaking research in fluid mechanics and chemical engineering.
-- Francisco Ayala, with the University of California at Irvine, for discoveries in genetic diversity and population dynamics, as well as promoting the public's understanding of science.
-- George Bass, with Texas A&M University's Institute of Nautical Archaeology, for creating the field of nautical archaeology and thereby improving understanding of the histories of economics, technology and literacy.
-- Mario Capecchi, with the University of Utah's School of Medicine, for pioneering biomedical research, including understanding of disease mechanisms and gene functions.
-- Ernest Davidson, with Indiana University, for helping create the field of computational quantum chemistry, which models chemical reactions and molecular response to radiation.
-- Raymond Davis, with the University of Pennsylvania, for creating the science of neutrino astronomy and proving the existence of the sun's varying output of the nearly massless subatomic particles.
-- Ann Graybiel, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; for contributing to the understanding of the brain's anatomy and physiology.
-- Charles Keeling, with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, for providing the basic knowledge base for understanding global warming and the planet's carbon cycle.
-- Gene Likens, with the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, for discovering acid rain in North America and leading the development of ecosystem science.
-- Victor McKusick, with the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine, for many contributions to the field of medical genetics and the human genome project.
-- Calyampudi Rao, with Pennsylvania State University, for pioneering work in the theory and methodology of statistical analysis.
-- Gabor Somorjai, with the University of California at Berkeley, for developing new techniques of dealing with reactions at an object's surface and new methods of catalysis.
-- Elias Stein, with Princeton University, for several contributions to mathematical analysis.
-- Harold Varmus, with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for discovering the cellular origins of cancer-causing genes.
The Medal of Technology laureates include:
-- John Ewen, president of Catalysis Research Corporation, for revolutionizing the production of several types of plastics.
-- Arun Netravali, of Lucent Technologies, for several contributions to television technology, including the computer algorithms responsible for high-definition TV and Internet video.
-- Sidney Petska, with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, for leading the development of interferons, subcellular substances now used in treating cancer and viral diseases.
-- Jerry Woodall, with Yale University, for developing semiconductor materials that have led to solar cells, light-emitting diodes such as those found in traffic lights, and ultrasmall lasers.
-- Dow Chemical Company for leadership in the chemical industry.
