Published: 3/1 2013
This year, the American Academy of Engineering Sciences will award the prestigious Draper Prize to the Swede Thomas Haug. The prize is awarded every year to people who have invented or developed technology with a large positive impact on people in their everyday lives. Previous year's award winners include the internet's founder Vinton G Cerf, the founder of the world wide web Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, as well as people who developed optical fiber, LCD display technology, GPS technology, medical technology and more.
This year, for the first time, the prize goes to a Swede, Thomas Haug, who helped develop the foundation for today's connected life. Thomas Haug (doctor, civil engineering) was born in Norway in 1927 and is a Swedish citizen. Haug led the Nordic collaboration to develop the NMT standard, which is the origin of today's mobile telephony over GSM and successors such as 3G and 4G. He worked at the then Televerket and Telia between 1966-2002 and collaborated for several years with another mobile pioneer, the late Östen Mäkitalo. Haug was also chairman of the later European collaboration to develop the GSM standard. Thomas Haug has also worked for Ericsson and a few years in the USA developing military radio units for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
- Given that Sweden has been at the forefront both with the first step with NMT and now most recently with 4G, it is of course extra gratifying that it goes to a Swede for the first time that the well-reputed Draper Prize recognizes efforts in mobile communication, says Professor Bertil Thorngren , former director of the "Center for Information and Communications Research" at the School of Economics.
- It feels very honorable to receive this year's award as we were several zealots on the operator side and the supplier side who were allowed to develop something that was difficult to realize the full impact of. The foundation for today's global connected life was laid with the world's first fully automatic mobile network NMT, which was developed right from the start to function across national borders in the Nordic countries, says Thomas Haug.
The award ceremony will be held this year on February 19 in Washington, USA. The Draper Prize is an annual award given by the American National Academy of Engineering to people who have driven technological development forward in a pioneering way and who have had a major impact on people's daily lives. All of this year's award winners have been involved in driving the early development of mobile phones. Read more about the prize and prize winners at www.draperprize.org
A recorded interview with Thomas Haug and more information about the early Nordic mobile pioneers can be found at www.teliasonera.com/en/newsroom/news/2013/draperprize2013/
