IEEE Awards Booklet - 2015 - 14

2015 ieee medals

IEEE Simon Ramo Medal

IEEE John von Neumann Medal

Sponsored by Northrop Grumman
Corporation

Sponsored by IBM Corporation

paul g. Kaminski

James a. gosling

For leading the development of advanced low-observable airborne
systems, including the F-117, and the
supporting tools, training, and weapons

For the Java programming language,
Java Virtual Machine, and other contributions to programming languages and
environments

Paul G. Kaminski's technical prowess and leadership skills have
played a key role in the development and application of the U.S.
Offset Strategy developed to counter the massive conventional
forces of the Soviet Union during the cold war. The three components of that strategy included Precision Guided Munitions
(PGMs) to permit one weapon to destroy one target; advanced
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems to
find and track the targets; and stealth technology to permit delivery of the PGMs on target in the presence of air defenses. This
combination provided immeasurable benefits to national security
and military capability. Dr. Kaminski's work on low-observable
airborne systems led to the development of stealth aircraft including the F-117 fighter and B-2 bomber and advanced cruise missiles with stealth ability.
Many years ahead of similar systems pursued by other nations,
the F-117 was designed as not simply an airplane but, in combination with ISR and PGMs, provided a complete weapons system
incorporating ordinance and targeting capabilities. It changed the
paradigm of air warfare and provided a dramatic reduction in the
loss and capture of U.S. aircrews. Critical to the success of Dr.
Kaminski's stealth technology innovations was his implementation of the Integrated Product Team concept and the use of red
teams for identifying and solving problems early in the development process.
He also championed physics-based modeling and simulation
during development of the F-117, which accelerated testing and
provided the basis for the development of algorithms to route
the aircraft that gave great confidence to test pilots. Dr. Kaminski's work in stealth and counter-stealth was complemented by
his earlier work in PGMs in the late 1960s, followed by his work
in unconventional satellite imaging systems in the early to mid1970s. This work helped form the basis for the B-2 long-range
stealth strategic bomber, refining the technologies with advances
in sensors, control systems, and modeling and simulation.
An IEEE Life Fellow and recipient of U.S. National Medal of
Technology, Dr. Kaminski is currently chairman and chief executive officer with Technovation Inc., Potomac Falls,VA, USA.

A world-class innovator for over 30 years, James A. Gosling's development of the Java programming language in 1995 was a major milestone in computing that has had an immeasurable impact
on computer science. Dr. Gosling combined the best ideas in programming languages with his own ideas to create the first widely
deployed programming language featuring portability to allow
transmission of code over the Internet from one computer to
another for execution while still meeting security requirements.
Its features include the portable "write once, run anywhere" bytecoded platform and libraries that makes use of a standard class
file format that can be loaded and executed by any Java Virtual
Machine; the robust and secure "sand box" approach; type-safe
automatic storage management; just-in-time compilation; and
platform scaling from cell phone to enterprise server. Used by
approximately 9 million developers, Java is one of the most popular programming languages in history and can be found in servers, mobile phones, and the chips embedded in credit cards and
identity badges. Dr. Gosling has also influenced software engineering methodology with important contributions during the
1980s. As a graduate student, he created one of the most widely
used versions of the UNIX Emacs text editor. As a contributor to
Carnegie Mellon's Andrew Project, he developed the first UNIX
windows manager and one of the first modern, multiformat text
editors that allowed placement of tables, pictures, and graphics in
a document. This open-source architecture influenced the evolution of Microsoft Windows. Dr. Gosling has also impacted the
world of embedded systems with his early work on the ISIS II
satellite, a real-time specification for Java, and his current work on
autonomous ocean-going robots.
A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and
an Officer of the Order Canada (second-highest Canadian civilian honor), Dr. Gosling is chief software architect with Liquid
Robotics, Redwood, CA, USA.

Scope: For exceptional achievement in systems engineering and
systems science

Scope: For outstanding achievements in computer-related science
and technology

14 | 2015 IEEE AWARDS BOOKLET

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2015