• Obama names 23 scientists and innovators as medal winners

    NSF

    The National Medal of Science honors researchers.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    President Barack Obama has named 12 researchers and 11 inventors as recipients of the federal government's highest honors in their fields: the National Medal of Science, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

    The newly named recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony next year.

    "I am proud to honor these inspiring American innovators," Obama said Friday in a White House statement.  "They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this nation great — and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment."

    The National Medal of Science was established in 1959 and is administered for the White House by the National Science Foundation. The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was created in 1980, under the auspices of the Commerce Department's Patent and Trademark Office. Committees select nominees for each of the medals — the science medal for contributions to research, and the technology medal for contributions to American competitiveness and quality of life.

    National Medal of Science recipients include:

    • Allen Bard, chemist focusing on artificial photosynthesis, University of Texas at Austin
    • Sallie Chisholm, biologist focusing on marine organisms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Sidney Drell, physicist and arms control expert, Stanford University
    • Sandra Faber, astronomer focusing on evolution of galaxies and cosmic structure, University of California at Santa Cruz
    • Sylvester James Gates, physicist focusing on supersymmetry and string theory, University of Maryland
    • Solomon Golomb, mathematician and the inventor of polyominoes, University of Southern California
    • John Goodenough, physicist credited for development of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, University of Texas at Austin
    • M. Frederick Hawthorne, chemist focusing on boron hydrides, University of Missouri
    • Leroy Hood, biologist focusing on DNA medicine, Institute for Systems Biology
    • Barry Mazur, mathematician focusing on geometry and number theory, Harvard University
    • Lucy Shapiro, biologist focusing on developmental biology, Stanford University School of Medicine
    • Anne Treisman, psychologist focusing on visual attention, perception and memory, Princeton University

    NIST

    The National Medal of Technology and Innovation goes to inventors and engineers.

    National Medal of Technology and Innovation:

    • Frances Arnold, engineer focusing on directed evolution, California Institute of Technology
    • George Carruthers, inventor, physicist and space scientist, U.S. Naval Research Lab
    • Robert Langer, engineer focusing on biotechnology and medical technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Norman McCombs, engineer focusing on oxygen therapy, AirSep Corp.
    • Gholam Peyman, retina surgeon credited with invention of Lasik eye surgery procedure, Arizona Retinal Specialists
    • Art Rosenfeld, physicist focusing on energy efficiency technologies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Jan Vilcek, microbiologist focusing on the immune system, NYU Langone Medical Center
    • IBM: Samuel Blum, Rangaswamy Srinivasan and James Wynne, co-inventors of the ultraviolet excimer laser
    • Raytheon BBN Technologies, R&D company focusing on military as well as civilian applications, represented by CEO Edward Campbell

    The White House says the affiliations are the awardees' most recently identified employers. Some of the awardees are now retired.

    More about science at the White House:

    Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

  • How satellites helped get Osama

    Google / DigitalGlobe / GeoEye

    This Google Earth image shows Osama bin Laden's triangular compound toward the left side of the frame.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    The climax of the Osama drama took place on the ground in Pakistan, but the gutsy military operation would have been impossible to pull off without a web of orbiting satellites.

    The proof of that emerged today in accounts of the plan to get Osama bin Laden: Once the CIA and the U.S. military focused in on bin Laden's potential hideout in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, views from above could be turned into a detailed map of the premises, most likely with the help of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The map was so detailed that the operation's planners could build a mockup of the compound for rehearsals.

    "The outer features of the compound were studied intensively," John Brennan, the White House's deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism, told journalists today.

    The Pentagon can draw upon a constellation of military satellites for imagery in a variety of wavelengths, but it also picks up pictures from commercial satellite companies such as GeoEye and DigitalGlobe — the same companies that provide mapping data for websites such as Google Earth. A series of satellite pictures can be used to trace the history of the building site from an empty lot in 2001, to a newly built mansion in 2005, to an even more built-out neighborhood this January. Here's that latest image from DigitalGlobe:

    DigitalGlobe via Space.com

    An image from DigitalGlobe highlights Osama bin Laden's compound as it appeared on Jan. 15.

    Tracking down the precise location of bin Laden's base on satellite imagery occupied the attention of geo-geeks for hours, until the CIA provided the solution to the puzzle. Postings on Ogle Earth and the Google Earth blog trace every step of the hunt. This diagram from the CIA helps you identify the compound on the images above:

    CIA

    A diagram from the CIA shows the layout of Osama bin Laden's compound in detail.

    Once the decision was made to go ahead with the raid, another set of satellites came into play: A space-based military satellite system that provides a secure communication channel between the warfighters in the field and the experts directing the operation from far off. Even President Barack Obama could monitor the action in real time from the White House Situation Room, just as CIA Director Leon Panetta could from the spy agency's headquarters.

    Pete Souza / White House

    President Barack Obama and other top U.S. government officials receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the White House Situation Room on Sunday.

    The main satellite constellations involved here are the Defense Satellite Communications System, or DSCS-III and the Milstar system. Milstar is of more recent vintage and has more capability for secure communications, but it doesn't offer as much signal bandwidth as DSCS-III. The satellite system links up with communication terminals that are installed at bases on the ground, place on ships stationed offshore, or even carried around by the helicopter raiders. The Navy SEALs who took on the "get Osama" mission typically wear helmet-cams that can send a stream of encrypted video halfway around the world.

    These high-tech surveillance and communication tools ultimately provided the U.S. military with a high-tech edge over Osama bin Laden and his supporters, who had to go low-tech to avoid detection. And ironically, it was that very low-techiness that tipped off the CIA: The fact that a million-dollar mansion had no phone lines or Internet links led analysts to suspect that they had the right target in their sights.

    More on technology and bin Laden's death:

    Correction for 7:25 p.m. ET: After the initial posting of this item, I added in the factoid about helmet-cams, but in my haste I typed "get Obama" rather than "get Osama" ... which is too bad, because I had double-checked the original item to try to avoid just that sort of mistake. Sorry about the error, and thanks to all those who pointed it out in the comment section below. To make it up to the Navy SEALs, here's a video from NBC News' George Lewis.

    You can join the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.