George H. HeilmeierThe December 12^th issue of Business Week profiles one of our community’s most prominent individuals in an article entitled "Voices of Innovation". George Heilmeier’s contributions to scientific research over the past four decades have led to major technological breakthroughs in such wide ranging areas as flat screen TVs and stealth bombers.

The Business Week article tells the story about how Heilmeier’s "dissertation on organic semiconductors led to …. a breakthrough discovery at RCA Labs" where George Heilmeier was working at the time. This proved to be the first key to the development of the LCD which would become the future of TV sets. George Heilmeier was only 28 years old.

The sad part of the story is that RCA eventually abandoned its research and development efforts with respect to LCDs. The Japanese picked up the ball and ran with it. Today, according to Business Week, the LCD business is dominated by Japanese, Korea and Taiwanese companies. It is a $39 billion business. The Japanese belatedly honored Heilmeier for his LCD innovations this past November by awarding him the Kyoto Prize which comes with a $425,000 cash award.

George Heilmeier left RCA in 1970 when he was selected to be one of 17 White House Fellows in 1970 and spend a year working in the Executive branch of the federal government. He was assigned to be a special assistant to the Secretary of Defense. That is when I got to know George as I was Associate Director of the White House Fellowship program at the time. In a group of 17 very smart people (including top flight West Point and Naval Academy trained military leaders along with up-and-coming corporate leaders), George Heilmeier was clearly head and shoulders intellectually above the rest of the group. The funny thing about Dr. George Heilmeier then (and, as best I can tell, he hasn’t changed since) is that, while he had (and has) strong views on a wide range of subjects, you never got the sense that George had a big ego. This was somewhat surprising to find in a man with such credentials and achievements. In that way, George reminds me of my old boss Ronald Reagan who combined strong convictions and a quiet self-confidence with personal humility. There was a saying on President Reagan’s desk which is apt of the way both men led others: "There is no telling how far you go if you don’t mind who gets the credit."

George Heilmeier has had a very distinguished career. He stayed on at Defense after his White House Fellowship year was completed and headed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 1975 to 1977. He then went to Texas Instruments where he became Chief Technology Officer in 1983. Heilmeier was named CEO of Bellcore in 1991 and he retired in 1997. He still consults for a number of major companies.

In the Business Week article, here is George’s take on the future of U.S. science: "Heilmeier is generally upbeat about the outlook for U.S. science. But he does have some concerns. ‘There’s more hype in research than ever before,’ he says. ‘A lot more.’ Nanoelectronics is especially guilty, he believes. ‘The hypemeisters may be good at winning funding, but you don’t win by dumping in money. You win with insightful ideas.’"

Let’s just hope there are other 28 year old George Heilmeiers out there somewhere in the U.S. engaged in the kind of research that may one day lead them on a path like Dr. Heilmeier’s which (in the words of the Business Week author) "made him an icon of U.S. innovation in both civilian and military circles."

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