Box 3, Folder 60 – General Speeches
March 29, 1995 – Lemelson-MIT Award, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.
This award was presented to both Hewlett and Packard, and was accepted on their behalf by their old friend and former HP Lab Director, Barney Oliver.
3/29/95, Copy of a draft of Hewlett’s acceptance speech, which he did not present. [See above]
In this draft Hewlett says it is an “honor to have been selected for this first Lemelson-MIT Award. He says the award recognizes invention, and encourages young inventors. In this connection, he mentions that he invented “our first product [at HP], an audio oscillator used by sound engineers, for my degree of Engineer.”
He says both he and Dave “recognized from the start that invention was the life blood of our company. We tried to develop an atmosphere that encourages creativity and innovation – a place where people are enthusiastic about their work, where they are unfettered by bureaucracy and where their contributions are recognized.”
Commenting on the world’s need for young inventors Hewlett says “ I applaud Mr. Lemelson for his recognition of this need and for his generosity in establishing this award. I am glad he chose MIT, where I received my masters degree in 1936, and a great university known for encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.”
He closes by congratulating “the young inventor who will receive the $500,000 prize.”
3/29/95, Copy of typed remarks by Barney Oliver, on behalf of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard
3/29/95, Copy of news release from MIT titled Lemelson Prize Chair Established at MIT
3/29/95, Copy of news release from MIT titled Innovation Prize Established
Undated, Invitation to “The Inaugural Award Ceremony and Reception for the Lemelson-MIT Prize Celebrating American Invention and Innovation
12/20/94, Letter to Hewlett from Lester C. Thurow, Chairman Lemelson-MIT Prize Committee, telling him that he and Packard have been selected as joint recipients of the first Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award, for your countless contributions to American invention and innovation
12/21/94, Copy of a letter from Hewlett to Thurow, saying he is “highly honored and complimented by sharing with Dave Packard the first Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award. He says he knows of no conflict in dates and “if I am physically able I would certainly plan to be present on this occasion”
1/4/95, Copy of a news release discussing two impending court decisions bearing on patent law
1/18/95, Letter to Hewlett from Leslie Amparo, public relations organization representing the Lemelson-MIT Prize. Mr. Amparo says they would like to come to Palo Alto and make a short video tape of both Hewlett and Packard.
1/18/95, One unsigned typewritten page with notes from meeting with Roy Verley, HP PR Director, about the video taping
1/20/95, Copy of a note from Judy Arluck, Hewlett secretary, to Roy Verley, attaching a letter, dated 1/20/95 from Leslie Millenson, discussing arrangements for the video taping
2/14/95, Copy of a letter from Leslie Millenson, video people, to Mary Ann Easley confirming arrangements for video taping and interviews February 16 and 17
2/20/95, Letter to Hewlett from Leslie Joan Millenson, PR Officer for the Lemelson-MIT Prize, thanking him for participating in the video taping
2/20/95, Letter from Leslie Joan Millenson, to Judy Arluck thanking her for her help in making the video
2/22/95, Note to file confirming a call from Marie Southwick of the Lemelson-MIT committee saying they would be happy to invite guests as the Hewletts may wish, and will also pay for travel and hotel accommodations
2/24/95, Note to Marie Southwick from Judy Arluck sending biographical material on Hewlett
3/10/95, Copy of a letter to Judy Arluck from Annemarie Amparo discussing travel and hotel arrangements should Hewlett attend the award ceremony
3/20/95, Copy of a note from Hewlett to Barney Oliver enclosing copies of relevant background information about the award ceremony
3/21/95, Copy of a letter from Lester Thurow to Barney Oliver saying he is “delighted” that he will represent both Hewlett and Packard at the award ceremony and other activities
3/30/95, Copy of a newsgram sent to Hewlett, along with others inside HP, from Betty Gerard of HP PR telling about the award
3/31/95, Draft of a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Lemelson over the names of both Hewlett and Packard, thanking them for including them in the award, as well as throwing a dart at Congress for “having jeopardized the future of our nation by lack of funding for the great universities of our country.” This draft is attached to a note from Packard to Hewlett asking if this is OK. A handwritten note on the draft says Hewlett okayed it. A copy of the final, signed letter is also in the folder.
4/5/95, Letter to Hewlett from Rep. Anna Eshoo, House of Representatives, to Hewlett congratulating him on the award
5/22/95, Copy of a letter from Hewlett to Rep. Eshoo thanking her for her letter.
4/11/95, Letter to Hewlett from Annemarie Amparo, attaching a copy of a letter to the Lemelson-MIT Prize committee from Vice-President Gore congratulating them, the winners, and Hewlett and Packard.
4/13/95, Letter to Hewlett from John G. Linvill telling how much he “has always enjoyed and benefited from our interactions over the years I have been at Stanford.”
5/22/95, Copy of a letter to John Linvill from Hewlett thanking him for his letter
4/17/95, Letter to Hewlett from Jim Cunneen, California Assembly member congratulating him on the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award
5/10/95, Copy of a letter to Cunneen from Hewlett thanking him for his letter
4/18/95, Letter to Hewlett from Charles M. Vest congratulating him on the award
4/26/95, Letter to Hewlett from Elliott Levinthal, Professor-Research Emeritus at Stanford to which he attaches copies of letters he has written to Jerome Lemelson without getting a response. He expresses the hope that Hewlett may take an opportunity to contact Lemelson on behalf of Stanford.
5/10/95, Copy of a letter from Hewlett to Elliott Levinthal saying he doesn’t feel he has any “particular entrée” to Mr. Lemelson
5/1/95, Letter to Hewlett from Annemarie Amparo sending him The Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award noting that the lead crystal hologram is illuminated by Hewlett-Packard LEDs. She encloses a copy of the videotape prepared for the ceremony.
6/19/95, Copy of a letter to Annemarie Amparo from Hewlett thanking her for the videotape and the hologram
5/31/95, Copy of a letter from Hewlett to Lester Thurow saying he was greatly honored to jointly receive the first Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award and was sorry he was unable to attend. He thanks Thurow for using Hewlett-Packard LEDs in the hologram on the award.
5/2/95, Copy of a letter to Hewlett from Paul E. Gray of MIT offering congratulations on the award and saying he will be in California and would like to visit with Hewlett and tell him about plans at MIT
4/2/98, Handwritten note to Hewlett from Lester Thurow wishing him a ”speedy recovery”
Clipping from San Jose Mercury News newspaper
Various dates, Series of news releases issued by The Lemelson-MIT Prize
Box 3, Folder 61 – General Speeches
December 1, 1995 – Barney Oliver Memorial Service, Palo Alto. CA
12/1/95, Copy of typewritten text of Hewlett’s remarks
Hewlett says that he must have first met Barney Oliver in his early years at Stanford. “After he graduated from Cal Tech and Stanford, he went to work at Bell Labs. Whenever I went back east I always tried to visit him, as I was impressed with his abilities and felt he would be a major addition to the company.”
Hewlett tells a little story about Barney: “I know that when he was about a junior at Stanford, Professor Terman was going to teach a course in radio engineering (electronics now). Barney was interested in taking the course. Professor Terman was doubtful, because at that time Barney was only a junior. However, Barney insisted and Professor Terman told him, ‘Fine, We’ill see how you do in the mid-terms.’ The mid-terms came up and Barney got the highest grade in the class!”
When Hewlett and Packard started The Hewlett-Packard Company in the late 1930s they asked Barney if he would join them – but he said he was happy at Bell Labs. However, a few years later Barney decided to move west and he agreed to join HP, in 1952.
At HP Barney was appointed the Director of Research, elected a vice president, a member of the Board of Directors, and head of HP Labs. “At that time,” Hewlett says, “we allocated 10% of our net income to the manufacturing divisions to carry on their own development programs. This turned out to be too narrow a spectrum and we set up HP Labs. Its charter was very broad. The funds allocated to the Labs were approximately 1% of net income to freelance in whatever area they saw fit. Sometimes they chose to help a manufacturing division increase their research program.
“Sometimes the Lab started programs of their own in a promising field, which [if it] subsequently proved interesting, [might later be] transferred to one of the manufacturing divisions. Thus, between the Labs and manufacturing divisions we covered a fairly broad spectrum of activities.
Hewlett says he remembers Barney presenting an enthusiastic description of an outside inventor at one of their management meetings: “Tom Osborne’s invention was for a simplified computer structure. This subsequently turned into the 9100 project, one of the most successful ventures in the field of computers. This gave me an opportunity to observe Barney as a mathematician, a surveyor, an astronomer, a salesman and a valid repair technician!
“Barney was also a wonderful role model of how to apply logic to practical problems. An example: Barney’s help with the case of our first mini-computer. We had it all designed and the specifications set. Only we discovered there was no room for the power supply in the model. This was exactly the kind of problem Barney loved and right then and there, he invented a very different kind of power supply –much lighter and smaller that would fit into the space available.”
Hewlett says Barney “…not only taught the engineering staff technical matters, but he also taught them how to speak the King’s English. An example: ‘Data’ was a plural noun, not a singular noun. If used as singular noun, he would probably jump on you – I never forgot it!
“Barney’s interests were so catholic it was hard to constrain them to narrower fields. For instance, he became interested in other subjects. such as astronomy – which led to the SETI Program – Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. He also became interested in the use of an ordinary garden pest for controlling troublesome insects. This was by developing a strain of nematodes, who were insectivorous. With the help of HP, he set up a company to produce these nematodes. It turned out they had limited value, but had importance in some cases. Although we subsequently backed out of this, it was an example of his breadth of interests.
“Barney left an indelible mark on the company and will always be recognized as the great genius that he really was.”
12/1/95, Copy of the Memorial Service Program
