Obama rewards digital camera, microprocessor inventors

During a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Obama presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to three people and the Intel team and the National Medal of Science to 10 top researchers.

They are the highest honor the US government bestows on scientists, engineers, and inventors.

Among the recipients was Stephen Sasson, an Eastman Kodak employee who in 1975 built the first prototype of the digital camera, an invention that enjoyed huge commercial success a quarter century later.

These cameras "revolutionized photography, as all these folks back here can testify," Obama joked at the press photographers, who jointly paid tribute to Sasson by furiously snapping as many pictures of him as they could.

The president also presented awards to Federico Faggin, Marcian Hoff and Stanley Mazor, who designed in 1971 the Intel 4004, the California firm's first commercial microprocessor.

Another recipient was Stanley Prusiner, who discovered prions, misfolded proteins that can cause disorders like mad-cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

The inventor of cyanoacrylates -- new adhesives known as ‘super glues’ that play key roles in medicine and industry -- Harry Coover also received an award.

"You have truly revolutionized the world," Obama told the newly anointed recipients.

"I believe one of the most important jobs that I have as a president is to restore science to its rightful place."

(c) 2010 AFP