The $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Rewarding One Generation of Inventors While Inspiring Another

2005 Lemelson-MIT $500,000 Prize winner
Woody Norris. Credit: Lemelson-MIT

We benefit every day from an amazing array of inventions—high and low tech, big and small, fundamental or just fun. The Lemelson-MIT Prize honors inventors who have transformed our world. Celebrating their work provides an opportunity for all of us to appreciate the value of innovation, and for students to see their own potential to improve lives through invention.

The $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize honors inventors who have developed a patented product or process of significant value to society. The prize infuses both recognition and funding at a crucially productive stage in an inventor's career. Winners serve as role models, providing mentoring and outreach to encourage young people to pursue their interests in invention and innovation.

Award recipients include:

Chad Mirkin (2009), world-renowned chemist and nanotechnolgy researcher best-known for his development of nanoparticle-based biodetection schemes, the invention of Dip-Pen Nanolithography and contributions to supramolecular chemistry.
Joseph M. DeSimone (2008), who applied his inventive expertise to a range of fields including green manufacturing, medical devices and nanomedicine, with a unique ability to transfer his novel solutions from the lab to the marketplace.
Timothy Swager (2007), the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry and Head of the Department of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his inventive accomplishments stem from original molecular-based designs

Featured Prize Winner: Even the Sky's No Limit for Self-Taught Inventor Woody Norris

The ultralight AirScooter is designed for easy
control and maneuverability. Credit: AirScooter

When Woody Norris was young, he collected broken radios to repair. Decades later, he's made his own contributions to audio technology.

One of Norris' most significant inventions is hypersonic sound (HSS), an approach that allows sound to be aimed at a precise listening point – the audio equivalent of a highly focused laser beam. HSS works by emitting two highly directional ultrasonic signals, each outside the range of human hearing. At the precise point in the air where the ultrasonic waves mix, the combined frequencies produce sound.

The result is a personal sound field in which the listener hears the broadcast sound clearly — even as someone standing only a foot away hears nothing. From museum displays to military communications to listening to music in your own living room, HSS promises to transform the way audio information is shared.

Norris' other audio inventions include the Transcutaneous Doppler system, a precursor to the sonogram which sends ultrasound through the skin; a hands-free ear-mounted speaker/microphone device that is the basis of one of the most popular cell-phone headsets; and Flashback, a solid state, handheld recording and playback device that eliminated audio-tape by using non-volatile flash memory.

Those early years tinkering with broken radios proved to be invaluable self-training according to Norris. "You know how some people can play the piano, they just pick out notes? I've always had that ability with electronics. I know rudimentary things about circuits just intuitively. And if I don't, I can figure it out pretty quick with just a clue here and there. So most of my electronic training is pretty elementary."

Norris recently turned his attention to a subject most of us only dream about—personalized flight. The result is the AirScooter, a 250 pound single-seat helicopter so light and simple to use, it doesn't require a license to fly. In addition to being ultralight, the AirScooter is designed to be so easy to control that people with physical disabilities can pilot it.

If this real-life version of a Star Wars–style flying pod sounds cool, just wait. You never know what Woody Norris will dream up next.

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