Virginia Tech engineering professors James Thorp and Arun Phadke are recipients of the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their combined contributions of more than 60 years to the power industry.
Specifically, they have collaborated on many advances that strengthen the electric utility industry’s ability to prevent power grid blackouts, or to make them less intense and easier to recover from.
For this collaborative work, the Franklin Institute has now included Thorp and Phadke into its list of the greatest men and women of science, engineering, and technology.
Competition for the Benjamin Franklin Medals is international. Participants from seven fields of science are eligible: chemistry, computer and cognitive science, earth and environmental science, electrical engineering, life science, mechanical engineering and physics. In the past, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, Marie and Pierre Curie and Jane Goodall have been among the recipients.
“Professors Thorp and Phadke, both members of the National Academy of Engineering, are considered to be preeminent trailblazers in their fields of electric power,” said Richard Benson, dean of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering.
“Their research has a direct impact on the daily lives of everyone around the world. In fact, both are also members of a prestigious Chinese funded research team directed to improve the protection and security of the worldwide, interconnected electric power grid.”
For more information go to: http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/