Computer graphics achievement award

Abstract

The SIGGRAPH achicvcmcnt award is presented to Kurt Akeley in recognition of his contributions Lo the architccturc, design, and realization of high performance 3D graphics hardware systems. These architectures define not only his company, but provide the high-performance 3D graphics facilities that cnablc scientists, cnginccrs. animators. and other users to visualize. crcatc, and dream in new ways. Kurt Akclcy received a B.E.E. Prom the University of Dclawarc in 19X0. and an M .S.E.E. from Stanford in 19X2. That year hc was a mcmhcr. with previous Achicvcmcnt Awn&c Jim Clark. of the lounding team ol‘ Silicon Graphics. lncorporatcd. Ilc has hecn a key technical contributor since then wtth primary dcsipn rcsponsibillty for most of the high-end graphics architccturcs in SGI’s product history. Kurt dcvclopcd the rramc burfcrs and proccssol subsystems lor the early INS series products. and many of’ the CAD tools used to design thcsc and other products. Ilc was instrumental in dcvcloplng the graphics systems for the Power Series and Onyx systems. including the GTX. the VGX. and the Rcalltyl~n~inc. Ilc also led the dcsipn and documentation of the OpcnGI. graphics software specification. which is now supported by Silicon Graphics and many other workstation and personal computer vendors. Clearly he is a hardwarc wizard. hut one who also has a deep understanding of software and cspccially the critical interaction bctwecn hardware and softwarc. Currently. as Vice President and Chief Ilngincer at %;I. hc is rcsponsiblc for the specification of cxtcnsions to the OpcnGL graphics software interface. llc has rccclved clfhr patents and has others pending. In uddltion to his design contributions. Kurt has published papers ahout those architccturcs. and ahout graphics architectures in gcncral These publications arc seminal contributions [or the graphics community around the world It is practically impossihlc f’or a paper descrihlng IICW ideas m graphics architecture to omit. as background. cssent~al rcl’crcnccs to Kurt Akclcy‘s contributiom III addition. al the mn~al SIGGRAI’II coni‘crcnccs Kurt‘s courses on graphics architccturcs and graphics programming have cducatcd Icf~ons 01 prol’cssionalh in our Industry. llc alxo contributes on the panclh UKI program committees. In 19X4 his collcagucs at Silicon Graphics rcco~nizctl his contributions bv sclcct~ilg him a5 the rlrst overall “Splril 0r %;I” award winner. I le rccclvcd the IO01 I)lstlnguishcd Alumnus award from the I)cpartmcnl of l:lcctrlcal I:n~lncerin~ 01. lhc Ilnlvcrslt)~ 01 l>cluwurc. and \vil.\ g~vcrl a I JnivcrxItv 01. ljclawarc I’rcsidcnlial (‘Ilallon lor Outs13nd1n; Achlcvcmcl;l 111 I’)‘).? In short. through his tangible achievements Kurt AkeIey has enabled a unique industry, and has enriched the lives of many thousands of users who are now able to break new ground in their own fields because of the power his inventions provide.?herefore. SIGGRAPH is pleased to present the SIGGRAPH Achievement Award to Kurt Akeley.