Internet pioneers Vinton G Cerf and Robert E Kahn received the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton on Tuesday, in recognition of their joint development of the TCP/IP protocol. Cerf now works for MCI Communications Corp as senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Engineering, and Kahn is president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. Ray Dolby, the sound technologist, Norman Augustine, chairman of Lockheed Martin Corp, and Robert Ledby, the inventor of the computer tomography bosy scanner, were among the other award winners. Also at the White House ceremony, President Clinton announced that the Defense Department would be investing $14m to help universities and industry develop a supercomputer on a chip. Further details of the award, which involves a joint venture between research universities, the federal government and the Semiconductor Industry Association, are expected to be revealed next month.
