Draper Prize

Draper Prize, award given by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for specific engineering achievements that have significantly affected modern society “by improving the quality of life, providing the ability to live freely and comfortably, and/or permitting access to information.” The prize is given in honour of the 20th-century American aeronautical engineer Charles Stark Draper (1901–87) and is endowed by a research laboratory founded by Draper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The award consists of a gold medal and $500,000.

The prize is awarded for achievements in any engineering discipline. Winners have included Sir Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohain, inventors of the first working jet engines; Sir Tim Berners-Lee, credited with founding the World Wide Web; and Frances H. Arnold and Willem P.C. Stemmer, bioengineers whose work in directed evolution has allowed biological molecules with specific properties to be produced in quantity for creating products ranging from pharmaceuticals to biofuels. Candidates are nominated each year by members of engineering and science associations in the United States and around the world, and winners are selected by specially convened committees of NAE members. The prize is open to nominees of all nationalities. It is awarded not for lifetime work but for specific achievements, and it is not awarded posthumously.

The Draper Prize grew out of a long-standing dissatisfaction that the Nobel Prizes do not include an award for engineering. With a sizable cash endowment, the Draper Prize has come to be considered one of the most prestigious awards for engineering in the world, and its presentation is considered to be a valuable tool for improving the public’s understanding of engineering and technology. From 1989 to 2001 the awarding of the prize was a biennial event; it subsequently occurred annually.

Winners of the Draper Prize are listed in the table.