The 2003 Draper Prize
GPS was initially developed for the
guidance, navigation, and control of military aircraft, missiles,
and satellites in space, as well as to aid people on the ground.
Now it has become commonplace in many everyday applications and
has fundamentally changed navigation for various modes of transportation
through its capability to give precise positioning coordinates
and very accurate real time. GPS is currently part of such technologies
as weapons and air traffic control systems and is used in ships,
trucks, and automobiles. It is increasingly being employed in
areas of health and welfare, as well as in emergency situations.
"Many of engineering's
great achievements become so much a part of our lives that they
are taken for granted. I think that, without question, the Global
Positioning System is destined for this distinction," said
Wm. A. Wulf, president, National Academy of Engineering. "It
is an achievement that deservedly joins the ranks of previous Draper
Prize honors, such as the semiconductor microchip, the jet engine,
satellite technology, fiber optics, and the Internet."
The
Draper Prize Recipients
 |
Ivan
A. Getting was president emeritus of The Aerospace
Corp. In the 1950s he envisioned a system that would use satellite
transmitters to pinpoint with extreme accuracy locations anywhere
on Earth. After it was shown that GPS could work, Getting became
a tireless advocate for making sure the complex system was actually
built. |
 |
Bradford
W. Parkinson was Department of Defense program director
for the original definition of the GPS system architecture,
as well as for its engineering, development, demonstration,
and implementation. He continues to work on GPS at Stanford
University, further honing its accuracy and using it to control
such things as helicopters, farm tractors, and spacecraft. |
News Release
Cambridge—Drs. Ivan A. Getting and
Bradford W. Parkinson will be awarded the 2003 Draper Prize
tonight in recognition of their technological achievements
in the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Getting and Parkinson will share the $500,000 award and receive
gold medals at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., sponsored by
the award’s administrator, the National Academy of Engineering.
The Draper Prize is one
of engineering’s highest honors, and it is awarded annually
to individuals or groups whose work demonstrates a “reduction
to practice”—a proven innovation—that contributes
to human welfare and freedom. It was established in 1988 at the
request of Draper Laboratory to honor the memory of Dr. Charles
Stark Draper, the “father of inertial navigation,” and
to increase public understanding of the contributions of engineering
and technology to society.
“GPS is an achievement
that deservedly joins the ranks of previous Draper Prize honors,
such as the semiconductor microchip, the jet engine, satellite technology,
fiber optics, and the Internet,” said Dr. Wm. A. Wulf, president
of the National Academy of Engineering.
GPS is a constellation
of 24 satellites that broadcast signals to and receive signals from
ground stations and mobile receivers, which use the signals to determine
location on or above the Earth to within 300 feet typically.
GPS was developed initially
for the guidance, navigation, and control of military aircraft,
missiles, and satellites in space, as well as to aid people on the
ground. It has become commonplace in many everyday applications
and has fundamentally changed navigation for various modes of transportation
through its capability to give precise positioning coordinates and
very accurate real time. GPS is currently part of such technologies
as weapons and air traffic control systems and is used in ships,
trucks, and automobiles. It is increasingly being employed in areas
of health and welfare, as well as in emergency situations.
Ivan Getting, president
emeritus of the Aerospace Corp., in the 1950s envisioned a system
that would use satellite transmitters to pinpoint with extreme accuracy
locations anywhere on Earth. After it is was shown that GPS could
work, Getting became a tireless advocate for making sure the complex
system was actually built.
Bradford Parkinson was
Department of Defense program director for the original definition
of the GPS system architecture, as well as for its engineering,
development, demonstration, and implementation. He continues to
work at Stanford University as principal investigator for several
GPS research projects, further honing its accuracy and using it
to control such things as helicopters, farm tractors, and spacecraft.
The Charles Stark Draper
Laboratory, Inc.is a not-for-profit, independent, research and development
laboratory engaged in applied research, engineering development,
advanced technical education, and technology transfer. With origins
at MIT, it has pioneered in the application of science and technology
to challenging problems of national significance. Examples of its
work include design and development of guidance systems or components
for all deployed U.S. strategic missiles; guidance, navigation,
and control systems for NASA’s manned and scientific spacecraft;
fault-tolerant ship control computers for the Seawolf submarine;
autonomous underwater, air, space, and ground systems for DARPA;
integrated Global Positioning System/micromechanical inertial sensing
systems for precision guided munitions; the ground antenna and monitor
station simulators and telecommunications simulator test station
for the GPS Block II, IIA, IIR, and IIF satellites; biomedical engineering
research; and applied information systems.
Photos and biographies
of the Draper Prize recipients can be downloaded from the NAE
Web site, www.nae.edu. For additional information about the
Draper Prize, contact Leila Rao, NAE awards administrator, at
202-334-1237 or Kathleen Granchelli, communications director,
Draper Laboratory, at 617-258-2605
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