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Biographies

 These biographies were written for The Franklin Institute and Science Museum.

JANE GOODALL, PH.D.
The 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences
In the summer of 1960, 26 year-old-Jane Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study wild chimpanzees at the request of the famed anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey.  Leakey had hoped that Goodall's observations would serve as a window into the evolutionary past of humans.  Through these observations, which she shared with millions of people around the world,  scientists and laymen alike enjoyed the extraordinary opportunity of becoming acquainted with David Greybeard, Flo and her family, Goliath, and all the other friends with whom Goodall shared her forest sanctuary.  Read more

 ROBERT NEWNHAM, PH.D.
The 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering
The next time you see an ultrasound image of a fetus, think of Robert Newnham, who invented the composite piezoelectric transducer that has revolutionized numerous fields of engineering, including medical ultrasound.  In addition to its significance as a diagnostic tool, millions of expectant parents have been given the indescribable experience of meeting their babies months before delivery and checking in on their well being.  Read more

RAYMOND V. DAMADIAN, MD
The 2004 Bower Award for Business Leadership
Ever since the ancient Chinese and Greeks independently discovered that the mineral magnetite attracted iron, the use of magnetism has had countless practical applications for humankind.  One such application had its genesis in a laboratory at Columbia University.  Here, a discovery was made in 1930 that Raymond Damadian would one day apply to revolutionize science and medicine.  His discovery was the development and commercialization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) used in clinical applications today.  Read more