Scientific American’s debut list recognizes science and technology contributions from many fields

NEW YORK  – Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) has been named by Scientific American magazine as one of the “Scientific American 50” – the noted magazine’s first list recognizing contributions from the past year to science and technology providing a vision of a better future.

Announced today, the Scientific American 50 makes its debut in the magazine’s December issue, appearing on newsstands November 18. The complete list may also be accessed on the magazine’s website at www.sciam.com.

Said Editor-in-Chief John Rennie, “Scientific American’s editors wanted to recognize some of the most outstanding visionaries who are advancing technology and guaranteeing a brighter future for all of us. Scientists aren’t the only ones doing this. That’s why the Scientific American 50 includes business leaders, policy leaders, companies and other organizations that influence how society puts innovations to good use.”

Selected by the magazine’s Board of Editors, the Scientific American 50 spotlights a Business Leader of the Year and a Research Leader of the year, in addition to citing accomplishments in the following categories: Agriculture, Chemicals & Materials, Communications, Computing, Defense, Energy, Environment, Manufacturing, Medical Diagnostics, Medical Treatments, Transportation and General Technology.  Each category recognizes a Business Leader, Policy Leader, Company Leader and Research Leader.

Dr. David Fyfe, CEO of CDT said, “CDT is extremely honored to be included in the Scientific American 50, and recognized by Scientific American magazine, with its unique stature in the world of science and technology. The honor validates the vision of light emitting polymers (LEPs) into a commercially viable technology platform for next generation displays, photovoltaic applications and general lighting solutions.”

CDT was named a leader in the General Technology category because of work over the last year in the development and commercialization of LEPs, a form of Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), which paves the way for inexpensive, ultra thin displays that have a higher image quality and consume less power than LCDs for products that range from mobile phones to eventually televisions. Unique to LEP, it can be applied in liquid form, which allows for the inkjet printing of displays on glass and plastic, leading to commercial displays that could one day in the future be rolled up.

Furthermore, whereas LEP displays emit light when an electrical current is applied, CDT researchers have been able to reverse the process and generate electricity when light shines on a polymer-based cell. Of strong commercial interest is the potential to develop inexpensive, flexible plastic solar cells that could be manufactured using low-cost roll-to-roll production. Currently, most solar panels are silicon based, which makes them expensive to manufacture and limits their scalability to large area panels.
 
Founded in 1845, editorial contributors to Scientific American have included over 100 Nobel laureates, among them Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Francis Crick, Stanley Prusiner and Harold Varmus.

Scientific American, Inc. is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, a U.S. subsidiary of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, a privately held international media corporation operating in more than 40 countries.  In addition to Scientific American, Holtzbrinck Publishers includes the book publishing houses Farrar, Straus & Giroux; W.H. Freeman; Henry Holt and Company; St. Martin’s Press and Tor; the academic scholarly publishing company Palgrave U.S.; the College Publishing Group of Bedford Freeman Worth; and the distribution company VHPS.