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323154814
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Engineering Awards, Washington, DC 2/20/90 [OA 8130]
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323154814
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Engineering Awards, Washington, DC 2/20/90 [OA 8130]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Curt Smith Chronological Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
foia Number:
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Smith, Curt, Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1992
OA/ID Number:
13889
Folder ID Number:
13889-005
Folder Title:
Engineering Awards, Washington D.C., 2/20/90
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G
18
29
1
5
carlergatical
(Smith/Blessey)
11 A.M.
February 9, 1990
DRAPER
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ENGINEERING AWARDS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1990
STATE DEPARTMENT
Mr. Welch. Mr. Kilby and Mr. Noyce. Dr. White, Dr. Charyk
[CHAIR-ik], Dr. Seamans, Dr. Bechtel. Members and Guests of the
National Academy of Engineers. Ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you, Jack, for that introduction, and for this warm
reception. I'm pleased to be with you during National Engineers
Week -- and to salute the first two recipients of engineering's
highest international award, the Charles Stark Draper Prize.
( (As I'm sure you know, my Chief of Staff, John Sununu, is
an engineer. That fact reveals itself in a number of ways. For
instance, it's a little different going to a baseball game with
John. // When you ask him what the score is, he tells you how
the electronic scoreboard works. ))
//
Not surprisingly, it was John who first told me of a letter
written 91 years ago to President McKinley. A letter in which
America's then-Commissioner of Patents urged that his own office
be abolished. // Looking back, his logic begs belief. Said
Charles Duell: "Everything that can be invented, has been
$
in
relle
invented." // Palar, (Two)
Clearly, he was more than a tad mistaken. For the twentieth
century has been a time of peerless exploration. And at its
heart have been scientists and engineers. Opening doors unto an
epecion
collection
Us. Lep aning apelar Adam
chick
2
age where mankind not only moved into the future -- but re-
invented it.
This evening, we honor men who embody that age: Jack Kilby
and Robert Noyce. // And their work which divides all that came
before from all that came after. // Not to date myself, but when
I was growing up PAC-Man was a hiker, not a video game. // The
microchip has changed all that --- and helped America change the
world.
Think, for example, of a computer the size of a room --
shrunk down to a size that fits on your lap. The microchip made
it possible. Or a calculator slashed from the size of a
refrigerator to the size of this pen. [PULL PEN CALCULATOR FROM
POCKET] Integrated circuits have enabled us to do the
unimaginable. Now, it is unimaginable to believe we could ever
live without them.
Already, the microchip has helped America not to de-
industrialize -- but re-industrialize. Or to paraphase
Churchill, never has something so small done so much for so many.
// Yet remember, too, that if we are to lead the world, we must
provide that world with further breakthroughs. For engineering
is "always a beginning, never a consummation. //
I know that the National Academy shares this belief. So it
has studied how America's engineering talent enhances our
competitiveness. And is exploring new ways to protect the globe
from environmental abuse. // You realize that truly informed
decisions on issues like climate change require us to better
3
integrate science, technology, and engineering into the public
policy equation. //
Our Administration agrees -- and so supports research and
development in all areas of science, technology, and engineering.
We have asked for a record high 71 billion dollars for R&D in our
budget for Fiscal Year 1991. // And to short-circuit the
prediction that a decade hence America will be short of
engineers, we have begun National Science Scholars initiative to
give kids a new incentive to excel in science, mathematics, and
engineering.
Yet enough about what government is doing: It is the
private sector which will shape the New Millennium. So look at
General Electric, which is spending $1.2 million a year on
minority science scholarships. And $20 million annually to
increase engineering's number of inner-city kids. Or Mobil --
launching grant programs to help high-school students spur
America's technological capability.
These programs can, and will, spur the computer revolution.
And contribute, as your Academy says, "To the advancement of
engineering
and the quality of life. " They will nurture
your achievements -- and their reduction to practice. And
reinforce the spirit central to the genius of I engineering -- and,
yes, the man for whom this evening's prize is named. //
Charles Draper was, first, an idealist pushing back the
boundaries of mankind's technological future. Yet at the same
time, practical. ((I'm reminded of a writer who was asked what
4
he would take if his home were on fire and he could remove only
one thing. // "I would take the fire," he replied.) ) Dr.
Draper knew that Yankee ingenuity revolves around what works.
L
Finally, he was indomitable -- he would not be defeated.
And looked to himself for inspiration. No government planner, he
knew, decided that Marconi would invent the wireless. And what
might have happened -- or worse, might not -- had Henry Ford been
forced to wait for Washington's approval before testing his
model-T? // If he had, Barbara and I might have come here on a
bicycle built for two. //
Albert Einstein once spoke of this genius of engineering --
which explains, in turn, the greatness of Dr. Draper. He said:
"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by
individuals who labor in freedom." Laboring in freedom, Charles
Draper well used that freedom. Used it to create and to inspire
-- and to make history move his way. //
This evening, we honor two men who themselves have made
history -- and made each American proud. So let me now present
to Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce engineering's highest award -- the
Charles Stark Draper Engineering Prize. And say: Thank you, God
bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
#
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#
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