CHAMPIONS OF INNOVATION

On Monday, June 4, 2007, the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative celebrated its 10th Anniversary by showcasing standout cases of Boston-based innovation and a number of the “living legends” who helped to revolutionize the industries that are now the cornerstone of our economy.

The evening was both a celebration of the Collaborative's past successes and a springboard for its future endeavors as Collaborative Board Chair Janice Bourque announced the "Innovation Fund Challenge."

The Living Legends who helped ring in the Collaborative's 10th Anniversary include:

ARPANET/BBN Team: At BBN (1969), Leo Beranek, Frank Heart, Dave Walden, Alex McKenzie, Ray Tomlinson (seen above R-L), et al got remote computers to communicate by inventing a packet system - the Internet was born.

Peter Brooke: A student of General Doriot, Brooke founded VC giant TA Associates (1968) and Advent International (1984) – dean of VC led a largely domestic industry into global markets.

Jay Forrester: As head of MIT’s Computer Lab (1946-52), Forrester developed first computer to use magnetic core memory (Whirlwind I) – pointing industry toward high speed computing. One of 4 key computer pioneers, he taught Ken Olsen of DEC and others.

Eric Lander: Famed mathematician, MacArthur award-winner and MIT biology professor, Lander founded the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research (1990), led the international Human Genome Project, and founded the Broad Institute (2003).

Joseph Murray: At Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1954), Dr. Murray completed the world’s first successful human kidney transplant – opening door to all other major organ transplants.

Ray Tomlinson: As BBN engineer (1972), developed file transfer protocol that enabled different computers to route messages to individual “mailboxes” – and put the @ sign in email.

Clara Wainwright: Invented First Night Boston (1976), social innovation now emulated in over 200 similar Eve’s around the world.