Tech Visionary Gets Inventor Prize
Raymond Kurzweil was going through the 20-odd messages left on his answering machine when his ears pricked up upon hearing the voice of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Lester Thurow.
Originally published April 25, 2001 at CNET. Published on KurzweilAI.net May 31, 2001.
Raymond Kurzweil was going through the 20-odd messages left on his answering machine when his ears pricked up upon hearing the voice of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Lester Thurow.
"My first thought was, 'What the heck does he want?'" said Kurzweil, who created the first reading machine for blind people. In short order, the peripatetic inventor learned he was $500,000 richer, the recipient of the Lemelson-MIT prize.
The prize, which will be presented to Kurzweil on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., recognizes his 35-year track record inventing technologies in areas as diverse as pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and speech reading.
"It's great to be recognized where there aren't a lot of real rewards for inventing," said Kurzweil. "It's particularly gratifying to be recognized by peers."
Beginning in 1976, when Kurzweil created a reading machine to give voice to any written text--a system first used by songwriter Stevie Wonder--the inventor had already founded and sold four companies.
Complete article available at CNET
| 
