The 1993 Draper Prize

The third Draper Prize was awarded in 1993 to John Backus for the invention of FORTRAN, the world's first higher-level computer language. After receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Columbia University, Backus joined IBM in 1950, where within a few years, he and a group of colleagues under his direction developed FORmula TRANslation. The FORTRAN language contained a compiler, or translator, that made computers much easier to use. The compiler converted binary machine language (strings of ones and zeros) into words, resulting in a computer language that was so easy to understand that nonspecialists could learn it and use it.

The Draper Prize was endowed in 1988 by The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in memory of its founder and to increase public understanding of the contributions of engineering and technology to society. The prize is awarded annually. It is among the world's largest engineering awards.

Dr. Charles Stark Draper, known as the "father of inertial navigation", led the effort that brought inertial navigation into operational usage in aircraft, missiles, submarines, and space vehicles. He was head of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which later was renamed in his honor and became an independent, not-for-profit corporation in 1973.

For additional information about the Draper Prize, contact Leila Rao, NAE awards administrator, at 202-334-1237 or visit the NAE Web site or contact Kathleen Granchelli, Communications Director, Draper Laboratory, at 617-258-2605

The Draper Prize Recipient

John Backus creator of FORTRAN