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Dr. Francine Patterson chosen as 1997 Kilby Foundation Laureate

The Gorilla Foundation is proud to announce that Dr. Francine "Penny" G. Patterson was chosen as a 1997 Kilby Foundation Laureate. She was recognized during a November 8 ceremony in Dallas, Texas. The Kilby International Awards honor Jack St. Clair Kilby, an inventor of the microchip. The awards, which were created as a permanent international tribute to Kilby, recognize honorees' contributions to society and for their excellence in science, technology, innovation, invention and education. The award also celebrates the visionary contributions of the Laureates as heroes and heroines in society, creating dynamic and diverse role models for the youth of today.

Dr. Patterson was chosen as an award recipient in honor of her 25 years dedicated to the study of primate linguistic abilities. While a graduate student at Stanford University in 1972 she started her work with the year-old Koko. Project Koko is now the longest ongoing interspecies communication study ever undertaken and Koko and her gorilla companion, Michael, are the only two gorillas in the world who communicate in American sign language. Dr. Patterson has committed her life to the care, preservation, protection and propagation of gorillas. As the director of The Gorilla Foundation, she is spearheading the effort to build its Allan G. Sanford Gorilla Preserve on a 70-acre site on Maui.

The Kilby Award, a non-monetary prize, is a wonderful recognition of Penny's contribution to society and is deemed a great honor.

The 1997 Laureates also included:

Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, a marine biologist, ecologist, and author. Amongst her many accomplishments, she set a record of freely diving to a depth of 1,250 feet in Scuba gear; her pioneering work has pushed back the frontiers of the ocean.
Dr. James Clark, founder and former chairman of Silicon Graphics, now chairman and chief executive officer of Netscape Communication Corp. He is a leader in the field of consumer electronics and computer industries and a pioneer of providing open software.
Dr. Hector DeLuca, chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his discovery of the vitamin D-endocrine system has dramatically increased the understanding of how vitamin D affects bone and calcium metabolism. His work enabled the creation of nontoxic drugs for the treatment of osteoporosis.
Dr. Barry Marshall, medical scientist and gastro-enterologist who through his revolutionary research discovered that peptic ulcers are caused by bacteria, changing the world's view of the cause of this illness.

Kilby Award winners in previous years include: Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer ('96); Dr. Vinton Cerf, the "father" of the Internet ('95); Stephanie Kwolek, inventor of Kevlar ('94); and, Dr. Mae C Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut ('93).

Related web sites:

The Kilby Foundation