Quantum science researchers win two more awards

Nov. 2005 -- Researchers in molecular electronics at HP Labs, already the recipients of more than a half-dozen awards, have been honored by The Wall Street Journal and by Small Times magazine.

The Wall Street Journal gave a runner-up Global Technology Innovation Award in its semiconductor category to the team's molecular crossbar latch, a technology that may be able to replace transistors – the fundamental building blocks of computers for the past 40 years – leading to a new way to build computers in the future.

In addition, Phil Kuekes, senior computer architect, was named Best of Small Tech researcher of the year award by the nanotechnology publication Small Times for his contributions to the crossbar latch and other advances.

Kuekes accepted the award at the publication’s NanoCommerce conference in Chicago Nov. 2.

The Wall Street Journal solicited nominations from all over the world through advertisements in the paper and through the Innovation Awards Web site. The newspaper received some 750 applications from approximately two dozen countries. Applicants completed a rigorous form that requested extensive details relating to their entry and why it constituted a true innovation.

Wall Street Journal editors then screened the applications and selected 104 semifinalists. Journal editors looked for innovativeness, clarity of explanation and whether the innovation was covered by patents or had achieved some kind of track record.

"Innovation is the key for any company to have continued success, and through these awards The Wall Street Journal recognizes these technological breakthroughs throughout the world," said Karen Elliott House, Journal publisher and senior vice president, Dow Jones & Company. "This year's winners showed the creative thinking that has allowed them to rise to the top of their respective industries."

Previous honors

This is the third award from a publication for the quantum science team this year. In September, Computerworld gave the group an honorable mention Horizon Award for "molecular-scale cross-bar electronics." The Horizon Awards program was designed to honor the developers of potentially important new information technologies. Nominations were collected -- from PR agencies, public and private companies and industry experts -- on the Computerworld web site throughout the month of June. An outside panel of CIO judges reviewed the nominations, and final selections were made.

Previous honors for HP Labs' quantum scientists and their work include:

• The Scientific American 50, 2002
• Industry Week, technology and innovation awards, 2002
• MIT Technology Review, "5 patents that will transform business and technology," 2000
• Feynman Prize in nanotechnology, 2000
• Nature magazine, "molecular movers and shakers," 2000
• Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics, 2000