The Elmer A. Sperry Award, named after the inventor and entrepreneur, is an American

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

prize. It has been given since 1955 for "a distinguished engineering contribution which, through application, proved in actual service, has advanced the art of transportation whether by land, sea, air, or space." The prize is given jointly by the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International is a global professional association and standards organization based in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, United States. Formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, the organization adopted its current name in 2006 to reflect bot ...

Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) is a global professional society that provides a forum for the advancement of the engineering profession as applied to the marine field. Although it particularly names the naval arch ...

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

, and the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing edu ...

(which administers it). The purpose of the award is to encourage progress in the engineering of transportation.

Recipients

Source
Elmer A. Sperry award
*1955 William Francis Gibbs, for the development of the

SS United States SS ''United States'' is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner to be List of passenger ships built in the United States, entirely constructed in the United Stat ...

*1956

Donald W. Douglas Donald Wills Douglas Sr. (April 6, 1892 – February 1, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer. An aviation pioneer, he designed and built the Douglas Cloudster. Though it failed in its intended purpose—being the first to ...

, for the DC series of air transport planes *1957 Harold L. Hamilton, Richard M. Dilworth and Eugene W. Kettering, for developing the

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

*1958

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was a German automotive engineering, automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche, Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first Petrol engine, gasoline–Electric motor, el ...

(in memoriam) and Heinz Nordhoff, for development of the

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

automobile *1959 Sir

Geoffrey De Havilland Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. De Havilland, The aircraft company he founded produced the de Havilland Mosquit ...

, Major

Frank Halford Major Frank Bernard Halford CBE FRAeS (7 March 1894 – 16 April 1955) was an English aircraft engine designer. He is best known for the series of de Havilland Gipsy engines, widely used by light aircraft in the 1920s and 30s. Career Educate ...

(in memoriam) and Charles C. Walker, for the first jet-powered passenger aircraft and engines *1960 Frederick Darcy Braddon,

Sperry Gyroscope Company Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

, for the three-axis gyroscopic navigational reference *1961 Robert Gilmore LeTourneau,

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey S. Firestone (18681938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, carriages, and other form ...

, for large capacity earth moving equipment and giant size tires *1962 Lloyd J. Hibbard, for applying the

ignitron An ignitron is a type of gas-filled tube used as a controlled rectifier and dating from the 1930s. Invented by Joseph Slepian while employed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghouse, Westinghouse was the original manufacturer and owned tr ...

rectifier to railroad motive power *1963

Earl A. Thompson Earl Avery Thompson (July 1, 1891 – April 20, 1967) was an American engineer and inventor who had a goal to make driving the automobile safer by reducing the effort required to shift the manual transmission of the day. Thompson even wanted to au ...

, for design and development of the first successful automatic automobile transmission *1964

Igor Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, (25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the Sikorsky S-2, the second aircraft of his design and construc ...

and Michael E. Gluhareff,

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

Division,

United Aircraft Corporation The PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) () is a Russian Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense corporation. With a majority stake belonging to the Russian government, it consolidates Russian private and state-owned Russ ...

, for developing the high-lift helicopter leading to the Skycrane *1965

Maynard Pennell Maynard L. Pennell (April 12, 1910 – November 22, 1994) was a Boeing executive and aircraft designer. Born in Skowhegan, Maine, his family moved to Seattle in 1920. Pennell studied aeronautical engineering, graduating from the University of Wash ...

, Richard L. Rouzie, John E. Steiner, William H. Cook and Richard L. Loesch, Jr., Commercial Airplane Division,

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

, for the design and manufacture of the family of jet transports, including the

707 707 may refer to: * 707 (number), a number * 707 (band), an American rock band * AD 707, a year in the 8th century * 707 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * The 7 July 2005 London bombings, a terrorist attack * 707th Special Mission Unit, a mili ...

, 720 and 727 *1966

Hideo Shima was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train (Shinkansen). Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering. His father was p ...

, Matsutaro Fuji and Shigenari Oishi,

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

, for developing the New Tokaido Line *1967 Edward R. Dye (in memoriam),

Hugh DeHaven Hugh DeHaven (3 March 1895 – 13 February 1980) was an American pilot, engineer and passive safety pioneer. DeHaven survived a plane crash while training as a Royal Canadian Flying Corps pilot during the First World War, and became interested in ...

and Robert A. Wolf,

Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory Calspan Corporation is a science and technology company founded in 1943 as part of the Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo, New York. Calspan consists of four primary operating units: Flight Research, Transportat ...

, for their contribution to automotive safety *1968

Christopher Cockerell Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft. Early life and education Cockerell was born in Cambridge, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell, was curat ...

and Richard Stanton-Jones, for the development of commercially useful

hovercraft A hovercraft (: hovercraft), also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the ...

. *1969 Douglas C. MacMillan, M. Nielsen and Edward L. Teale, Jr. for the design and construction of the

NS Savannah NS ''Savannah'' was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship. She was built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million (including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core) and launched on July 21, 1959. She was funded by Unite ...

*1970

Charles Stark Draper Charles Stark "Doc" Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) was an American scientist and engineer, known as the "father of inertial navigation". He was the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentat ...

of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Instrumentation Laboratories, for the successful application of

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning ...

systems to commercial air navigation. *1971 Sedgwick N. Wight (in memoriam) and George W. Baughman, for development of Centralized Traffic Control on railways *1972 Leonard S. Hobbs and Perry W. Pratt of

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially ...

, for the design and development of the Pratt & Whitney JT3 turbojet engine *1973–74 ''No award'' *1975 Jerome L. Goldman, Frank A. Nemec and James J. Henry, Friede and Goldman, Inc. and Alfred W. Schwendtner, for the design and development of barge carrying cargo vessels *1977 Clifford L. Eastburg and Harley J. Urbach, Railroad Engineering Department of the

Timken Company The Timken Company is a global manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products. Timken operates from 42 countries. Company history In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorpo ...

, for the development of tapered roller bearings for railroad and industrial use *1978 Robert Puiseux,

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

for the development of the radial tire. *1979

Leslie J. Clark Parvalux Electric Motors Ltd is a British manufacturer of fractional horsepower geared electric motors. Based in Poole in Southern England. In December 2018, Parvalux was acquired by maxon motor AG. History The name ‘Parvalux’ derives fro ...

, for his contributions to the conceptualization and initial development of the sea transport of

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

*1980 William M. Allen, Malcolm T. Stamper, Joseph F. Sutter and Everette L. Webb, Boeing, for the introduction of widebody commercial jet aircraft *1981 Edward J. Wasp, for his development of long distance pipeline slurry transport of coal and other finely divided solid materials. *1982 Jörg Brenneisen, Ehrhard Futterlieb, Joachim Körber, Edmund Müller, G. Reiner Nill, Manfred Schulz, Herbert Stemmler and Werner Teich, for their development of solid state adjustable frequency induction motor transmission for diesel and electric motor locomotives *1983 Sir George Edwards; General

Henri Ziegler Henri Ziegler CVO, CBE (18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president. An engineer, he was a graduate of the École Polytechnique and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national aerospace e ...

; Sir

Stanley Hooker Sir Stanley George Hooker, CBE, FRS, DPhil, BSc, FRAeS, MIMechE, FAAAS (30 September 1907 – 24 May 1984), was an English mathematician and jet engine engineer. He was employed first at Rolls-Royce where he worked on the earliest design ...

, (in memoriam); Sir

Archibald Russell Sir Archibald Russell, CBE, FRS (30 May 1904 – 29 May 1995) was a British aerospace engineer who worked most of his career at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, before becoming managing director of the Filton Division when Bristol merged into Bri ...

; and

André Turcat Major André Édouard Marcel Turcat (; 23 October 1921 – 4 January 2016) was a French Air Force pilot and test pilot celebrated for flying the first prototype of Concorde for its 1969 maiden flight. Turcat was born in Marseille into a family i ...

; commemorating their outstanding international contributions to the successful introduction of commercial supersonic aircraft such as Concorde *1984 Frederick Aronowitz, Joseph E. Killpatrick, Warren M. Macek and Theodore J. Podgorski, for the development of a ring laser gyroscopic system incorporated in a new series of commercial jetliners *1985 Richard K. Quinn, Carlton E. Tripp and George H. Plude for numerous innovative design concepts and an unusual method of construction of the first 1,000 foot self-unloading Great Lakes vessel, the M/V ''Stewart J. Cort'' *1986 George W. Jeffs, Dr. William R. Lucas, Dr. George E. Mueller, George F. Page, Robert F. Thompson and John F. Yardley, for their contributions to the concept and achievement of a reusable

Space Transportation System The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed spacecraft, space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo ...

*1987 Harry R. Wetenkamp, for his contributions toward the development of curved plate railroad wheel designs *1988 John Alvin Pierce, for his work on the

OMEGA Navigation System Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...

*1989 Harold E. Froehlich, Charles B. Momsen, Jr., and Allyn C. Vine, for their development of the deep-diving submarine,

DSV Alvin ''Alvin'' (DSV-2) is a crewed deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The original vehicle was built by General Mills' Electr ...

*1990 Claud M. Davis, Richard B. Hanrahan, John F. Keeley, and James H. Mollenauer, for their development of the Federal Aviation Administration enroute air traffic control system *1991 Malcom Purcell McLean, for his work on intermodal containerization *1992 Daniel K. Ludwig (in memoriam) for the development of the modern supertanker *1993 Heinz Leiber, WolfDieter Jonner and Hans Jürgen Gerstenmeier,

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch (styled BOSCH), is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 188 ...

for the development of the

Anti-lock braking system An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a Automotive safety, safety anti-Skid (automobile), skid Brake, braking system used on aircraft and on land motor vehicle, vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. ABS operates by preventing t ...

in motor vehicles *1994 Russell G. Altherr, for the development of a slackfree connector for articulated railroad freight cars *1995 ''No award'' *1996 Thomas G. Butler (in memoriam) and Richard H. MacNeal(in memoriam), for the development

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Structural Analysis (NASTRAN) as a working tool for

finite element Finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat tran ...

computation *1997 ''No award'' *1998

Bradford Parkinson Bradford Parkinson (born February 16, 1935) is an American engineer and inventor, retired United States Air Force Colonel and Emeritus Professor at Stanford University. He is best known as the lead architect, advocate and developer, with early co ...

, for the development of the

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

(GPS) for the precise navigation of transportation vehicles *1999 ''No award'' *2000 The staff of

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

and

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

between 1965 and 1981 who created the initial

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

High Speed Rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single def ...

System *2001 ''No award'' *2002

Raymond Pearlson Raymond Pearlson (born 2 March 1926) is an American marine engineer and the inventor of the Syncrolift System, which was designed to both launch ships and lift them out of the water for repair. Biography Pearlson was born in 1926 in New York Cit ...

, for the development of a new system for lifting ships out of the water for repair *2003 ''No award'' *2004

Josef Becker Josef Becker (8 February 1905 – 19 October 1996) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and former member of the German Bundestag. Life Before 1933 Becker was a member of the Centre Party. In 1945, he participat ...

, for the development of the Rudderpropeller, a combined propulsion and steering system *2005 Victor Wouk, for his development of gasoline engine-electric motor hybrid-drive systems for automobiles and his achievements in small, lightweight electric power supplies and batteries technology *2006

Antony Jameson Guy Antony Jameson, FRS, FREng (born 20 November 1934, Gillingham, Kent) is Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. Jameson is known for his pioneering work in the field of computational fluid dynamics. H ...

, for his

computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid dynamics, fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

design. *2007 Robert F. Cook, Peter T. Mahal, Pam L. Phillips, and James C. White, for their work in developing Engineered Materials Arresting Systems (EMAS) for airport

runway safety area A runway safety area (RSA) or runway end safety area (RESA, if at the end of the runway) is defined as "the surface surrounding the runway prepared or suitable for reducing the risk of damage to airplanes in the event of an undershoot, overshoot, ...

s. *2008 Thomas P. Stafford, Glynn S. Lunney,

Aleksei A. Leonov Alexey ( ; ), is a Russian and Bulgarian male given name derived from the Greek ''Aléxios'' (), meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin Alexius. Similar Ukrainian and Belarusian names are romanized as Oleksii (Олек ...

, Konstantin D. Bushuyev, for their work on the Apollo-Soyuz mission and the Apollo-Soyuz docking interface design *2009 Boris Popov, for the development of the ballistic parachute system allowing the safe descent of disabled aircraft *2010 Takuma Yamaguchi, for his invention of the ARTICOUPLE to allow an articulated tug and barge (AT/B) waterborne transportation system *2012 Zigmund Bluvband, President, ALD Group and Herbert Hecht, Chief Engineer, SoHaR Incorporated *2013 C. Donald Bateman, for his development of Honeywell’s Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) *2014 Alden J. "Doc" Laborde, Bruce G. Collipp and Alan C. McClure, for their technological developments in offshore oil and gas exploration and production in deep waters *2015 Michael Sinnet and the

Boeing 787 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...

-8 development team, for their work on the Boeing 787-8 *2016 Harri Kulovaara, for introducing developments to enhance the efficiency, safety and environmental performance of cruise ships *2017 Bruno Murari, in recognition of his engineering achievements at

STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics Naamloze vennootschap, NV (commonly referred to as ST or STMicro) is a European multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the largest of such companies in Europe. ...

. *2018

Panama Canal Authority The Panama Canal Authority (; ACP) is the agency of the government of Panama responsible for the operation and management of the Panama Canal. The ACP took over the administration of the canal from the Panama Canal Commission, the joint US–Pa ...

, for planning and successfully managing a program to undertake and complete a massive infrastructure project, the “Expansion of the Panama Canal.” *2019 George A. (Sandy) Thomson, in recognition of leading the innovation fo
water-lubricated polymer propeller shaft bearings
for marine transport thereby eliminating the requirement for oil lubrication. *2020 To Dominique Roddier, Christian Cermelli, and Alexia Aubault for the development of WindFloat, a floating foundation for offshore wind turbines. *2021 To Michimasa Fujino in recognition of his singular achievement of research and development of new technologies for business aviation including the Over-the-Wing Engine Mount and Natural Laminar Flow airfoil, and the introduction to the market of commercial aircraft based on these technologies through the formation of HondaJet. *2022 To Asad Madni for his work in the development of the first solid-state gyroscope and its subsequent integration into a complete automotive inertial measurement unit integrated circuit for stability control

References

Elmer A. Sperry Award official site

Elmer A. Sperry Award at ASCE
{{ASME Transportation engineering Awards established in 1955 Awards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1955 establishments in the United States Awards of the American Society of Civil Engineers IEEE awards

Recipients

See also

References