The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI) is the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement, bestowed by the president of the United States on America's leading innovators. There were 8 laureates in the 1989 class.
Jay W. Forrester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robert R. Everett, The MITRE Corp.
For their creative work in developing the technologies and applying computers to real-time applications. Their important contributions proved vital to national and free world defense and opened a new era of world business.
Helen Edwards, Richard A. Lundy, J. Richie Orr, and Alvin Tollestrup
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
For their contributions to the design, construction and initial operation of the TEVATRON particle accelerator. The scientific instrument was designed to explore the fundamental properties of matter. The innovative design and successful operation of the TEVATRON has been crucial to the design of the Superconducting Super Collider, the planned next generation particle accelerator.
Herbert W. Boyer, University of California, San Francisco and Stanley N. Cohen, Stanford University Medical Center
For their fundamental invention of gene splicing techniques allowing replication in quantity of biomedically important new products, and beneficially transformed plant materials. This discovery of recombinant DNA technology has transformed the basic science of molecular biology and the biotechnology industry.