Paul Cook (2008)

Paul Cook, one of Silicon Valley's most respected innovators and entrepreneurs, was SRI's 48th employee. His seminal research on micro-algae at SRI in the 1940s was fundamental to today's research on carbon dioxide capture and bio-fuels. He pioneered the radiation chemistry industry when he left SRI to found Raychem in 1957. In what is today a multibillion-dollar market, Cook built Raychem (now part of Tyco International, Ltd.) into a Fortune 500 company. In more recent years, Cook founded CellNet Data Systems, DIVA Systems, and Promptu. He received the National Medal of Technology in 1988, and is a member of the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame. He is on the board of directors at SRI's subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation.

Phil Green (2003)

Phil Green's contributions to the fields of ultrasonic imaging and minimally invasive "robotic" surgery have had tremendous impact on the practice of medicine. Over a 25-year period, Green led more than 30 inventions that made ultrasound a usable medical diagnostic tool; it is now a primary method of imaging the human body. In the early 1980s, Green had an insight that would prove to revolutionize minimally invasive surgery: a robotic system, controlled remotely by the surgeon, that gives the full sensory experience of conventional hands-on "open" surgery. Intuitive Surgical, an SRI spin-off company, developed and is commercializing the da Vinci™ Surgical System. Today, the company is the recognized leader in operative surgical robotics. In 2008, the European Commission has presented Green with the European Inventor of the Year award.

Dennis Finnigan (2002)

Dennis Finnigan helped build SRI's pioneering techno-economic research group beginning in the 1950s, leading groundbreaking management projects for U.S. defense agencies and the private sector worldwide. His extensive management consulting for Swedish companies helped modernize and revitalize the European post-World War II economy. He was among the first to identify and implement business applications for the emerging technologies of electronic data processing and computer simulation. He helped lead development of the first worldwide computer-based reservation system for SAS Airlines. In 1982, Finnigan was knighted with Sweden's Royal Order of the North Star medal — the country's highest civilian honor — for his many years of contributions to Swedish commerce and industry. Finnigan worked at SRI from 1954 until 1981, continuing his relationship with SRI through the early 1990s as an advisor.

ERMA Project Team (2001)
ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting) is one of SRI's most noted achievements and an engineering achievement of great consequence. Together with SRI's development of magnetic ink character recognition (MICR), ERMA revolutionized banking and launched data processing machines for business in the 1950s. The ERMA team qualified for the Gibson Achievement Award for its two major contributions: the use of account numbers instead of names to process checks and balances, and the use of a magnetic ink reading system that would transcend check processing from a laborious manual process to an automated one, while eliminating check canceling abuses. Both innovations were immensely vital to the banking industry and became worldwide standards. These standards are still in use everywhere today, more than 50 years later.

H. Edwin Robison (2000)

An advocate of foreign and domestic investment in developing countries and societies, Ed Robison began his work with SRI in 1953 with the San Carlos Apache Indians in Arizona. With an SRI team, he identified opportunities and programs that would help the San Carlos tribe build a foundation for economic growth and improved employment prospects. Committees for land use, mineral resources, livestock, and trading/store management were established as part of the plan. He also played an important role in economic development projects in the Philippines, India and Indonesia. Ed retired from SRI as Senior Director, International in 1986.

Douglas C. Engelbart (1999)

As a researcher at SRI for nearly 20 years, Doug Engelbart in large measure defined the future of computing. His pioneering innovations include the mouse, display editing, online processing, linking and in-file object addressing, use of multiple windows, hypermedia and context-sensitive help. His famous 1968 demonstration of these innovations and of on-screen video teleconferencing occurred at the American Federation of Information Processing Societies' Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco. As the Director of SRI's Augmentation Research Center (ARC), Doug and his team developed hypermedia groupware - NLS (oN-Line System) - that introduced two-dimensional computerized text editing. Doug's Center became the second node of the ARPANET - the predecessor to the Internet.