Eight Inducted into Minnesota Science & Technology Hall of Fame

They are inventors, researchers, engineers and, in all instances, innovators.  Eight people were inducted into the Minnesota Science and Technology Hall of Fame during the Tekne Awards ceremony November 3rd.  The Hall of Fame is located at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul and was created in partnership with MHTA.  It honors individuals whose achievements in science and technology have made lasting contributions to Minnesota and the world.

"The cutting-edge contributions from this class of inductees have been essential to the success of our state," said Margaret Anderson Kelliher, president and CEO of MHTA.  "Minnesota would not be the great place we know today without the work of these pioneers inventing new products and training a new generation of innovators."

MHTA along with the Science Museum of Minnesota, worked with a blue-ribbon selection panel, including leaders in academic and business sectors, to select this year's inductees.

The Hall of Fame includes interactive exhibits that tell the stories of inductees and their accomplishments.  You can also read profiles of past inductees online at MSTHallOfFame.org. 

• Neal R. Amundson (Awarded posthumously): Mathematician and chemical engineer; University of Minnesota Regents professor widely regarded as the “Modern Father of Chemical Engineering;” transformative figure renowned for integrating sophisticated mathematical theory and modeling into chemical engineering practice; influenced generations of students as a distinguished professor and Chemical Engineering Department Head at the University of Minnesota and later, at the University of Houston.

• Herbert C. Johnson (Awarded posthumously): Engineer, business leader, leading advocate for advancement of Minnesota high tech industry and—more broadly—the fields of science/engineering; a founder and former chair of the Minnesota High Tech Council (now Minnesota High Tech Association); former President, Minnesota Technology Corridor Corporation.

• Benjamin Y.H. Liu:  Mechanical engineer and inventor specializing in aerosol research, a field devoted to study and management of airborne particles with particular respect to environmental contaminants; widely published University of Minnesota Regents Professor Emeritus and former director of its Particle Technology Laboratory; current president/CEO of MSP Corporation, manufacturing precision instruments that apply micro- and nano-particle technology to industrial applications.

• Richard W. Peterson: Physicist with broad research interests in optical measurements (spectroscopy, interferometry, plasma diagnostics), holographic measurements, musical acoustics, and prizewinning laboratory and demonstration apparatus for the teaching of physics; widely published and award-winning University Professor of Physics (now Emeritus) at Bethel University; currently Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) for the Arlington, VA-based National Science Foundation; a leading worker for community-based STEM initiatives in Minnesota, with support from the Blandin (rural) and McKnight (urban) Foundations. 

• Patsy O’Connell Sherman (Awarded posthumously): Career Research Chemist and Technical Development Manager for 3M corporation; best known as co-inventor of Scotchguard, a fluorochemical-based product first introduced to the textile industry in 1956; elected to 3M Carlton Society— the company’s highest recognition for scientists who have made extraordinary contributions—and a 2001 inductee to the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.

• Spencer F. Silver: 3M career Research Chemist and co-inventor of the 3M blockbuster office product Post-It Notes, contributing to 3M’s 1995 award of the National Medal of Technology; named on over 20 patents, he is recipient of the Award for Creative Invention from the American Chemical Society and is an inductee to the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.

• Elvin C. Stakman (Awarded posthumously): Plant pathologist and distinguished University of Minnesota Professor at the forefront of a movement in the early 20^th century to maximize agricultural production through the use of modern science; internationally recognized for pioneering work in plant diseases—in particular, averting devastation of world wheat supplies by control of black stem rust. 

• Robert Vince: Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Director of the Center for Drug Design at the University of Minnesota; research chemist/inventor credited with design of “carbovirs,” synthetic compounds used in the 1998 breakthrough anti-HIV drug Abacavir/Ziagen©, part of the so-called AIDs cocktail.