The 2010 Bower Award in Science presented to Richard Peltier

Richard Peltier was chosen for his seminal cross-disciplinary research into the physics of the Earth: combining studies of the ocean, the interior of the Earth, and the atmosphere to highlight the interconnections that lead to global climate change.     

The 2004 Bower Award in Science presented to Seymour Benzer

Seymour Benzer was chosen for founding the field of neurogenetics, and for his seminal discoveries of the genetic basis of behavior. His pioneering studies made it possible to begin to acquire key information necessary to understand the human brain.     

The 2005 Bower Award in science presented to Henri B. Kagan

The scientific theme for the 2005 Bower Award was Chemistry, specifically the field of Catalysis. The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded the 2005 Bower Award and Prize for achievement in Science to Henri B. Kagan for his seminal discovery of fundamental chemical principles that explain the impact of catalyst shape on its effectiveness in controlling chemical reactions, thus greatly simplifying the manufacture of pharmaceutically important compounds. Henri Kagan is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of asymmetric catalysis. Starting in the early 1970s, his reports of the synthesis of the chiral bidentate diphosphine ligand and the demonstration of its use with soluble rhodium compounds to catalyze the efficient production of large enantiomeric excesses of chiral molecules in asymmetric hydrogenations has had far reaching effects on research in the field asymmetric catalysis. The concept of using chiral bidentate ligands of C2 symmetry has led the way for numerous developments in asymmetric catalysis. Later in 1986 his introduction of the concept and investigations into “nonlinear effects in asymmetric synthesis” using catalysts with chiral ligands that were not optically pure challenged the widely accepted assumption that the enantiomeric excess which is possible correlates linearly with the optical purity of the chiral ligands. He reported the first example in asymmetric catalysis where the optical purity of the product significantly exceeded the optical purity of the chiral ligand.     

The 2006 Bower Award for Achievement in Science, presented to Narain G. Hingorani

The scientific theme for the 2006 Bower Award for Achievement in Science was Electric Power Systems. The award was presented to Narain G. Hingorani for the conceptualization and pioneering advancement of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) and Custom Power in electric power systems, and for outstanding technical contributions in High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology. His contributions have enhanced the quality and security of the electric power system, and are expected to revolutionize future alternating current power transmission and distribution systems.     

The 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering presented to Bernard Widrow

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering to Bernard Widrow, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, for pioneering work in adaptive signal processing. Adaptive systems have the ability to learn and improve their behavior through interaction with their environments. Dr. Widrow developed the least mean squared (LMS) algorithm, which is a computationally facile means of finding the optimal weight vector for suppressing unknown noise. For example, every high-speed modem contains an adaptive filter or automatic equalizer based on the Widrow-Hoff LMS algorithm. Such a telephone channel equalizer makes it possible for computers to communicate at high speed (such as for the internet) over regular telephone lines, which were never intended for this purpose. Dr. Widrow was amongst the first to publish a general theory of adaptive antennas, including space-time processing. His adaptive learning algorithms made artificial neural networks possible. His latest invention is a directional hearing aid.     

The 2001 Benjamin Franklin medal in chemistry presented to K. Barry Sharpless

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA awarded the 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry to K. Barry Sharpless for his important innovative scientific contributions to the field of asymmetric catalytic oxidation, which resulted in highly enantioselective processes for the epoxidation, dihydroxylation and aminohydroxylation of olefins.     

The 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth Science presented to Rob Van der Voo

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded the 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth Science to Rob Van der Voo for his outstanding contributions to the field of paleomagnetism and his reconstruction of ancient continental positions that have lead to a better understanding of plate tectonic processes for the past billion years of Earth history.