Academy Awards 2011
News Summer 2011 President’s column 2 News of Fellows 3 Policy and public affairs 4 Research 5 International 6 Development 8 Events and awards 9 Education 10 Public engagement 11 Obituaries 12 Academy Awards 2011 On 6 June 2011, more than 350 Fellows, representatives from leading companies and their guests, award finalists and prize winners once again filled London’s historic Guildhall for the Academy’s annual awards evening. The compère for the ceremony was Radio 4 Today programme presenter Sarah Montague, who introduced Academy President Lord Browne of Madingley FREng FRS and guest of honour the Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. The UK’s most valuable engineering innovation prize, the £50,000 MacRobert Award, was presented to a Cambridge-based team from Microsoft Research for their work in helping to create Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360, the world’s first truly hands-free gaming system, which holds the Guinness World Record as the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history. The five winning engineers, Professor Andrew Blake FREng FRS, Mat Cook, Dr Andrew Fitzgibbon, Toby Sharp and Dr Jamie Shotton, won the 42nd annual MacRobert Award for cracking the problem of motion-capture in real time, giving Kinect its unique functionality and opening up a new world of possibility in the IT world. It is anticipated that such hands-free computer control devices could revolutionise the way surgery is performed around the world. The second annual Rooke Medal for the Public Promotion of Engineering, named after former Academy President Sir Denis Rooke OM CBE FRS FREng, went to Professor Chris Bishop FREng FRSE, also of Microsoft Research, for his ongoing work in engaging members of the public in the work of engineers and their contribution to society.
[Show full text]