This year's winners of the Society for Information Display's Honors and Awards include Dr. Frederic Kahn, who will receive the Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize for his outstanding and innovative contributions to the development and commercialization of flat-panel LCDs and projection systems; Dr. Dwight Berreman, who will be awarded the Jan Rajchman Prize for his many contributions to the analytical understanding of electro-optic effects in liquid crystals; Dr. Eli Peli, who will receive the Otto Schade Prize for contributions to vision science and its application to image-quality evaluation and enhancement; Dr. Philip Bos, who will be awarded the Slottow-Owaki Prize for his pioneering educational efforts in the field of LCDs; and Mr. Makoto Maeda, who will receive the Lewis & Beatrice Winner Award for his exceptional and sustained service to SID and the Japan Chapter.

by Jenny Donelan

EACH YEAR, the Society for Information Display (SID) honors individual scientists and researchers for outstanding achievements in the field of electronic-information displays and for outstanding service to the Society. Many of this year's recipients are being acknowledged for their work with liquid crystals. LCD technology is so entrenched today that it may seem unlikely that there was ever a time when it was far-off or unappreciated or had any chance of replacing CRTs as the dominant display technology. These visionaries worked long and hard to overcome many of the challenges of LCDs, helping to make LC the technical and commercial success it is today. Whether in liquid crystals or other areas, such as large plasma screens, projection displays, vision science, or in service to the industry as a whole, the winners of these awards worked, in many cases, without ideal conditions, funding, or even much in the way of recognition from the outside world. What might seem like overnight success is very often the culmination of many years of hard work, often performed with little encouragement beyond the scientists' own inner drive to see the work through.

There are many such "heroes" in the display industry. Only a small number are nominated for SID honors and fewer still are finally chosen as recipients. Honors and Awards Chair Christopher King, speaking for the members of the SID Honors and Awards Committee, says, "The selection and honoring of the SID Award winners is one of the most rewarding activities that SID undertakes each year." We will honor this year's winners during Display Week 2010 at the annual awards banquet to be held on Monday evening, May 24, prior to the Symposium.

Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize

This award is presented for an outstanding technical achievement in, or contribution to, display technology.

Dr. Frederic J. Kahn, SID fellow and president of Kahn International, has been awarded the Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize "for his outstanding, innovative contributions to the development and commercialization of flat-panel LCDs and projection systems."

Dr. Frederic J. Kahn

Dr. Kahn recognized early on the unique physical properties of liquid crystals and their applicability to a broad range of direct-view (flat-panel) and projection displays, as well as to related technologies. He has consistently and successfully followed up and built upon that vision with major contributions to the development of commercial enterprises based on information-display technologies.

At the NEC Central Research Laboratory in Kawasaki, Japan, from 1968 to 1969, he proposed and initiated NEC's liquid-crystal-display R&D, including invention of a field-effect color-change LCD. Starting in 1970, at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, he initiated Bell Labs' LCD R&D; advanced the understanding and control of LC molecular alignment on solid substrates; invented and was the first to publicly disclose (June 30, 1971) a vertically aligned nematic (VAN) LCD that reorients in a preferred direction at low voltage and which, after three decades of additional development and invention by subsequent workers, is now used in most flat-panel LCD TVs and high-performance LCD projectors; and invented and developed high-resolution LCD projection imaging devices and systems based on laser-addressed smectic-A LCDs.

While Kahn was a project manager for liquid-crystal displays at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, California, he led the development of multiplexed TN-LCD technology, which led to HP's first LCD calculator products, including the best-selling HP 12c business calculator, introduced in 1981 and still sold today (2010). He also developed 40-character multiplexed dot-matrix alpha-numeric LCDs for portable computers and a computer-interactive high-resolution C-sized engineering drawing display. As department manager for optical materials and polymers and later for storage physics, he also led optical-fiber, IC-lithography, and erasable-optical-memory programs.

Kahn founded Greyhawk Systems in Milpitas, California, in 1984 and served as VP Technology, with operational responsibility for LC light-valve development and manufacturing, as well as for new systems and applications development based on IR laser-addressed smectic-A and real-time photo-addressed (CRT and active-matrix) a-Si LCD projection technology. Greyhawk's products included 7.5-Mpixel 40-in. D and 37.5-Mpixel 144-in. D full-color displays (Softplot and LAD, respectively), an 8.4-Mpixel professional short-run color printer (Ilford Digital Photo Imager), and a 31.5-Mpixel printed-circuit-board exposure and development system (DuPont Seriflash).

According to Dr. S. T. Wu at the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, "Dr. Kahn has made significant scientific and technological contributions in liquid-crystal alignment, especially single-domain vertical alignment, which laid down the foundation for today's liquid-crystal–on–silicon projectors (commercialized by Sony and JVC), thermally addressed electrically erased high-resolution smectic liquid-crystal light valves, and pitch dilation of cholesteric liquid crystals, just to name a few."

From 1990 to the present, as president of Kahn International in Palo Alto, California, Dr. Kahn has helped other companies develop and grow successful display-technology related businesses through technical, business-development, intellectual-property, and expert-witness consulting, seminars, and publications (Private Line Report, Projector Database).

He has 18 issued U.S. patents and is the author or editor of over 40 technical publications. He has been a Fellow of SID since 1981 and has been General Chairman or Program Chairman of six international display conferences sponsored by SID, SPIE, and/or IEEE. He has also served as an SID International Officer (Secretary).

Dr. Kahn received his B.E.E from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1962 and his A.M. and Ph. D. in applied physics (solid state) from Harvard University in 1963 and 1968, respectively. He is a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow.

Jan Rajchman Prize

This award is presented for an outstanding scientific or technical achievement in, or contribution to, research on flat-panel displays.

Dr. Dwight Berreman, recipient of a SID Special Recognition Award in 1987, has received the Jan Rajchman Prize "for his many contributions to understanding electro-optic effects in liquid crystals and especially for his pioneering work on developing the 4 ´ 4 matrix method for simulating and optimizing the electro-optical properties of LCDs."

Dr. Dwight Berreman

After graduating from Cal Tech with a Ph.D. in physics, Dr. Berreman spent a year at Stanford Research Institute, then returned to his undergraduate institution, the University of Oregon, as Assistant Professor of Physics, before joining the Chemical Physics Research Department of AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

It was at Bell Labs that he was introduced to liquid crystals in 1969 by Dr. Terry Scheffer, who asked him to explain a difficult article on optical modes in cholesteric LCs of homogeneous texture. Failing that, Berreman developed the 4 x 4 transfer-matrix method for computers, which simulates the linear optics of any broad, flat system of layered media, including cholesterics and LC devices. Papers by Berreman and Scheffer described the 4 x 4 method and showed correspondence between computed and measured optical properties of cholesterics. Thereafter, Berreman wrote computer programs to simulate the static and dynamic behavior of LCDs in electric fields.

Over the years, particularly as interest in liquid crystals began to flag at Bell Labs, Berreman conducted research at the Fraunhofer I.A.F. in Freiburg, Germany. He also consulted frequently with a group under Dr. James Larimer at the NASA Ames Lab in Moffett Field, California, and with several groups that used his computer programs for LCD development. The LC group at Kent State University, for example, created a BASIC package that ran his LC simulation programs under Windows and made the input of physical parameters simpler.

The 4 x 4 matrix method for simulating the electro-optical performance of LCDs was a huge accomplishment that paved the way for the rapid optimization of LCDs. It is employed in all commercial LCD simulation software that is still being extensively used today. According to SID Honors and Awards Committee member Dr. Allan Kmetz, "Berreman's development of the 4 x 4 method was a great contribution to the evolution of LCDs from the 1970s until today. But his seminal contributions to the understanding of LCD physics go far beyond that fine analytical tool. His physical insights, communicated in many well-known publications, as well as his generous collaborations with many other researchers, underlie the understanding of LC alignment by surface topography, the invention of the supertwist and pi cells, the influence of backflow on LCD switching, and bistable LCDs."

Otto Schade Prize

The Otto Schade Prize is awarded for an outstanding scientific or technical achievement in, or contribution to, the advancement of functional performance and/or image quality of information displays.

Dr. Eli Peli, SID Fellow and a professor at Harvard Medical School, is receiving the Otto Schade Prize "for his many outstanding contributions to vision science and their application to image-quality evaluation and enhancement, including pioneering efforts in improving display performance for populations with special visual needs."

Dr. Eli Peli

Dr. Peli's principal research interests are image processing in relation to visual function and clinical psychophysics in low-vision rehabilitation, image understanding, image quality, and evaluation of display-vision interaction. He is a consultant to many companies in the ophthalmic area and to manufacturers of displays and in particular head-mounted and stereo displays.

According to Dr. James Larimer, Vision Scientist with Image Metrics, "Displays modified through optical design, signal processing, and/or ergonomic considerations have been crafted by Professor Peli to uniquely meet the needs of the low-vision community. As the world population ages, low vision has become an increasingly prevalent problem worldwide. A commercially focused industry like displays rarely has a concerted effort to serve a niche population such as the low-vision community. It is therefore remarkable and good that Dr. Peli has taken up this challenge within the industry to develop technology and tools to serve this special and growing community."

Dr. Peli embarked on the study of the possi-bility of using enhancement as a way to improve images based on a model of impaired vision that borrowed much from the approaches originated by Otto Schade, which used a spatial frequency-based pre-emphasis model. As soon as the first enhancement approach was developed, he faced the difficult problem of evaluating the benefit of that enhancement – how to measure the improvement of image quality provided by enhancement for these patients. He first applied optical simulation by photography using a camera that was rendered to have the optical properties of an eye with a cataract. This was followed by a series of studies that implemented the optical simulation computationally, and then by patient evaluation studies of the improvement in celebrity-face recognition obtained with enhanced images. Dr. Peli was able to show that image enhancement did improve the celebrity-face recognition of patients with both cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.

The growth of video and imaging technology presents both a great opportunity and a great obstacle for people with impaired vision. As ever more cultural content is delivered through images and video, these members of society find themselves at a great social disadvantage. At the same time, the technology itself can serve as a vehicle to improve their access to content of various sorts. Dr. Eli Peli has made outstanding advances in the area of image quality through his efforts to provide better, more enjoyable, and more useful access to electronic images for a special population.

Dr. Peli received degrees from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and a doctorate from the New England College of Optometry. He is the Moakley Scholar in Aging Eye Research and Co-Director of Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute, and Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. He also serves on the faculties of the New England College of Optometry, Tufts University School of Medicine, University of York, UK, and Dalian Maritime University, China. He has been a consultant on many national committees, including the National Institutes of Health, NASA AOS, Aviation Operations Systems advisory committee, U.S. Air Force, Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Navy Postdoctoral Fellowships Program, U.S. Army Research Labs, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

He has published more than 140 peer-reviewed journal papers and has been awarded eight U.S. patents. He also edited a book entitled Visual Models for Target Detection, with special emphasis on military applications, and co-authored a book entitled Driving with Confidence: A Practical Guide to Driving with Low Vision (co-authored with Doron Peli).

Slottow-Owaki Prize

The Slottow-Owaki Prize is awarded for outstanding contributions to the education and training of students and professionals in the field of information display.

Dr. Philip Bos, a SID Fellow and professor of chemical physics and the Associate Director of the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, is receiving the Slottow-Owaki Prize "for his pioneering educational efforts in the field of LCDs, including the development of curriculum and student research topics for the latest LCD-technology innovations for high-speed response, bistable operation, the design of wide-viewing-angle films, and diffractive devices."

Dr. Philip Bos

Dr. Philip Bos's field of interest is the applications of liquid crystals. As a researcher, he recognized the importance of the coupling of flow and director reorientation in speeding the relaxation of the director field in nematic devices. Consequently, he invented the pi-cell device, which has been used for commercially successful applications in the area of field-sequential color and stereoscopic viewing systems. He also clarified the importance of the symmetry of the director configuration when designing electro-optical effects with wide angle of view and invented an optically self-compensating director configuration.

In addition, Dr. Bos invented polarization-independent electro-optical diffraction grating based on optical activity rather than optical-path-length difference. This resulted in the ability to demonstrate low-voltage high-performance liquid-crystal electro-optical effects for transmissive projection devices.

According to Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Director of the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, "The field of liquid-crystal applications is impossible to imagine without the contributions of Professor Bos. Over the last three decades, he has made seminal inventions such as high-speed switching of the liquid crystal through a delicate balance of director reorientation and hydrodynamic flows and enhanced the viewing angle and contrast of nematic displays through compensating films. He has also developed efficient diffractive and beam-steering devices."

In addition, Lavrentovich continues, "His contribution to the field is multifaceted; he is also a wonderful teacher, who has advised numerous Ph.D. graduates at Kent State who now work at companies such as Apple, Inc., 3M, Hewlett Packard, Kent Displays, Hana Microdisplays, and others. As an Associate Director of the Liquid Crystal Institute, Professor Bos oversees the Industrial Partnership Program, which provides our Institute with a vital link to the global industrial world and assists our colleagues from industry with an access to the Institute's rich intellectual and instrumental resources."

Dr. Bos has authored more than 100 papers in the field of liquid crystals and liquid-crystal displays and holds more than 25 issued patents. He received his Ph.D in physics from Kent State in 1978 and was a principal scientist in the Display Research Laboratory of Tektronix, Inc., before returning to Kent State in 1994 to teach and conduct research.

Lewis and Beatrice Winner Award

Awarded for exceptional and sustained service to SID.

Mr. Makoto Maeda, a SID Fellow and Special Recognition Recipient, has earned this award "for his exceptional and sustained service to the Society for Information Display, especially his outstanding leadership as Chapter Chairman, Director, and Regional Vice-President, all of which contributed significantly to the growth of the Japan Chapter."

Mr. Makoto Maeda

In 1965, Mr. Makoto Maeda began his involvement with CRT development at Sony, and contributed to the development of the Trinitron Color CRT in 1968. In 1974, he facilitated a new CRT production plant in San Diego as a quality-assurance manager, going on to develop and launch a flat monochrome 2-in. CRT. In 1990, he developed a 0.7-in. polysilicon TFT-LCD panel for a viewfinder, which was later put into production.

In addition to his technical contributions, Mr. Maeda has been a particularly active and involved member of SID. His first activities for the society were performed as a member of the SID Program CRT subcommittee. From 1998 to 2000, he was Japan Chapter Chair and contributed to increasing the chapter membership by 30% from 650 to 850. During those years, he nominated many chapter members for SID Awards, and as a result, 20 out of 31 special recognition awards and fellow grades went to Japan Chapter members. Based on his activities, chapter membership also grew to more than 1000 in 2008.

"His friendly smile combined with a strong will," says Dr. Shigeo Mikoshiba, a member of the Honors and Awards Committee and also a past president of SID, "not only promoted Sony's CRT business, but the SID Japan Chapter, SID Asia Region, and the entire SID community."

From 2000 to 2003, he served as Japan Chair Director, and from 2003 to 2004, as Regional Vice President Asia. From 2003 to the present, he has been a member of the Japan Chapter Executive Committee and continues to be a strong supporter of SID activities.

Mr. Maeda graduated with a degree in physics from Kyoto University in 1965. •