IEEE Awards Booklet - 2012 - 7

I E E E

M E D A L S

2012 IEEE
Alexander Graham Bell Medal

2012 IEEE
Edison Medal

Sponsored by Bell Labs

Sponsored by Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd.

Leonard Kleinrock

Michael F. Tompsett

For pioneering contributions to modeling, analysis, and
design of packet-switching networks

For pioneering contributions to imaging devices,
including CCD imagers, cameras, and thermal imagers

Leonard Kleinrock is considered one of the fathers of the
Internet for his development of packet-switching networks,
providing the theory upon which the Internet exists today. Dr.
Kleinrock developed the mathematical theory of packet-switching networks during the early 1960s as a graduate student at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology to handle the burst-like
nature of computer data transmission and its resulting inefficiencies. Packet switching involves packaging data into specially
formatted units, or packets, that identify the sender and the
intended recipient and enables shared use through routing and
queuing of the data. Dr. Kleinrock transferred his theory to
practical deployment at the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) through the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency's (DARPA) predecessor of the Internet, known as
ARPANET. His host computer became the very first node of
ARPANET in September 1969, and he supervised the transmission of the first message ever sent over the Internet in October
1969. His group evaluated ARPANET as it grew during the
1970s, and he proved that packet-switched networks could
provide highly efficient data communications and would not fail
in a full-scale deployment. This was instrumental in persuading
the U.S. Government to fund Internet development. During the
1970s, Dr. Kleinrock's pioneering work on packet radio methods
provided the foundation for today's wireless cellular communications, WiFi, and 3G/4G mobile computing technologies.
Today's emerging "cloud computing" platforms, where services
are provided on-demand much like traditional utilities, were
predicted by Dr. Kleinrock back in 1969.

Michael F. Tompsett's development of the charge-coupled
device (CCD) for imaging provided the major technology behind
high-quality digital imaging in cameras, and his contributions to
night-vision and thermal imaging devices have led to important
applications for the military, fire fighting, and medicine. Dr.
Tompsett joined Bell Labs in 1969 with the goal of developing
solid-state imaging devices. Dr. Tompsett advanced the chargecoupled concept of Willard Boyle and George E. Smith at Bell
Labs by exploiting its potential for imaging applications. Dr.
Tompsett and his team were able to capture images with simple
linear devices in 1971 and then went on to develop a series of
CCD cameras, the first of which captured the first discrete-pixel
CCD color image in 1973. Dr. Tompsett led the development of
the first full television-resolution CCD camera in 1976. One of
the components of Dr. Tompsett's orginal patent still serves as
the basis for today's astronomical and nuclear event imagers.
Prior to his groundbreaking CCD research, Dr. Tompsett had
made important advances to thermal and night-vision technology working in the United Kingdom from 1966 to 1969. He first
invented the uncooled pyroelectric vidicon camera tube to
provide electronic scanning at room temperature, replacing
large, slow, and low-resolution single-pixel scanners cooled by
liquid nitrogen. At the same time Dr. Tompsett invented the first
uncooled solid-state thermal imager, which serves as the basis
for today's devices used for night vision, fire fighting, to see
through smoke, and for medical imaging. He also has helped
revolutionize the video analog-to-digital converters used today
in cameras and mobile phones.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Kleinrock is currently a Distinguished
Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, where has worked
since 1963.

An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Tompsett is currently Founder and Executive
Director of TheraManager, LLC, Murray Hill, N.J.

Scope: For exceptional contributions to the advancement of
communications sciences and engineering

Scope: For a career of meritorious achievement in electrical
science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2012