Announcing the 2020 Franklin Institute Awards Laureates

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- They are visionaries. Advancing technology, uncovering solutions, and fostering innovation to improve our world. Equally important, they are powerful role models for future generations of scientists, innovators, and leaders. The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia today announces the 2020 recipients of the Franklin Institute Awards.

For more information about the Franklin Institute Awards and past and present award winners, visit the The Franklin Institute website.

Six Benjamin Franklin Medals for transformative advances and global breakthroughs in science and technology, and two Bower Awards—one for extraordinary business leadership, and another for achievement in science, which carries a $250,000 monetary prize will be awarded to ten remarkable individuals this spring.

The laureates will take the stage at a gala ceremony on Thursday, April 30, 2020, in the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at The Franklin Institute, the culmination of a weeklong suite of public and educational events designed to provide direct access for the public to the world-renowned laureates. Bank of America returns in 2020 as Presenting Sponsor of the Awards Ceremony and Dinner for the 18^th consecutive year and their support of the Awards Program continues through the Institute's 200^th anniversary in 2024.

The Franklin Institute Awards recognize extraordinary accomplishments in science and technology since the Institute was founded in 1824. The 2020 recipients join others including Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, and Bill Gates—in the Institute's unparalleled history of honoring the greatest minds of the last 196 years. To date, 120 laureates are also Nobel Prize recipients.

"Philadelphia is long known for leading the way in science, technology, and innovation," said Larry Dubinski, President and CEO of The Franklin Institute. "The Franklin Institute Awards Program brings to light some of the greatest minds of our time for accomplishments that will inspire us all and transform our world."

2020 Franklin Institute Awards Laureates

2020 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science

• Kunihiko Fukushima, Ph.D.
  He bridged principles of neuroscience and engineering to invent a neural network capable of visual pattern recognition, which led to the rise of today's artificial intelligence boom.

2020 Bower Award and Prize for Business Leadership

• Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D.
  He launched Genentech to biotech greatness, and today, he continues to culture innovation at Apple through a powerful technology revolution as Chairman, and by leading Calico Life Sciences on a cutting-edge quest to extend human lives and develop new interventions for age-related diseases.

2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry

• Roberto Car, Ph.D. and Michele Parrinello, Ph.D.
  They invented a computational method for mapping and predicting the behavior of atoms in motion—an approach with extensive applications from researching new materials to drug development.

2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science

• Barbara H. Partee, FBA
  She synthesized insights from linguistics, philosophy, logic, and psychology to understand how words and sentences combine to express meaning in human language.

2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science

• Monica G. Turner, Ph.D.
  Her work seeded the field of modern landscape ecology and captures the impact of environmental disturbances—from forest fires to urbanization--on natural systems and human well-being.

2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science

• Jeremy Nathans, M.D., Ph.D.
  He discovered the genetic basis of color vision and was the first to isolate key genes involved in eye development and diseases, advances that could lead to treatments of some of our most concerning eye disorders.

2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering

• C. Daniel Mote, Ph.D.
  His research on spinning discs has made him a driving force in the engineering community. From sawmills to ski slopes, he significantly transformed a broad array of everyday items and mechanical processes, making them more safe, efficient, and ecologically sound.

2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics

• Henry C. Kapteyn, Ph.D. and Margaret M. Murnane, Ph.D.
  Setting records for speed, their high-intensity lasers are faster, smaller, and less expensive than ever before, making them accessible to a new generation of researchers and applications in fields ranging from electronics to medicine.

Note to Editors/Assets:
Laureate Photos: https://www.fi.edu/press-room/press-kits/2020-franklin-institute-awards
Announcement video: https://www.fi.edu/awards

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
Located in the heart of Philadelphia, The Franklin Institute is a renowned and innovative leader in the field of science and technology learning, as well as a dynamic center of activity. As Pennsylvania's most visited museum, it is dedicated to creating a passion for learning about science by offering access to hands-on science education.  For more information, visit www.fi.edu. 

SOURCE The Franklin Institute

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