University of Southern California
Solar astronomer and USC professor Darrell L. Judge heads a team that developed equipment to measure extreme ultraviolet (EUV) that has been included in instrument packages aboard NASA Space Shuttle missions dating back to 1974, and also on the SOHO (Solar Orbiting Heliocentric Observer).
Professor Theodore Berger is developer of the world’s first brain prosthesis, an implantable hippocampus that may help patients regain the ability to store new memories.
USC professor of biomedical engineering Gerald Loeb heads a research program that has produced a neuromuscular implant called the BION™ (short for bionic neuron) designed to reanimate paralyzed muscles by means of electrical stimulation.
USC scientist Mark Humayun is developer of an electronic retinal prosthesis that may be able to restore sight by stimulating remaining healthy retinal cells to detect light.
USC professor Anton Burg, known as the “father of chemistry” at USC, was a leading expert on the nonmetallic element boron.
Peter K. Vogt, then distinguished professor and chairman of the USC Department of Microbiology, was one of the co-discoverers of oncogenes — those genes found in the chromosomes of tumor cells whose activation is associated with the initial and continuing conversion of normal cells into cancer cell.
The domain name system — what we know as “.com” and “.edu” — was developed in 1983 by USC computer scientists Paul Mockapetris and the late Jon Postel.
USC professor of computer science and physics Christoph von der Malsburg and former USC researcher Hartmut Neven have worked extensively on advanced face-recognition software. As founder of Nevengineering Inc., Neven has come up facial identity-scanning software that has many applications for commercial customers as well as the military.
Award-winning TV personality and USC professor Frank Baxter created “Shakespeare on TV,” the first course to be taught on television for college credit in Southern California. (The course was first offered over the air in 1953.)
For many years, USC was the only university campus to house a human centrifuge. The instrument was used in the development of the G-suit to prevent pilot blackout during World War II, and in research related to the first U.S. space missions.
USC molecular and computational biologist Norman Arnheim was co-leader of the team that developed the polymerase chain reaction — a technology essential to completion of the Human Genome Project.
Often referred to as the father of computational biology, USC’s Michael Waterman was co-developer of the Smith-Waterman algorithm for sequence comparison and of the Lander-Waterman formula for physical mapping, which was crucial for advancement of the Human Genome Project.
USC distinguished professor of chemistry and winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry George Olah is a pioneer in fuel cell technology.
USC surgeon Rick Selby and nephrologist Mohamed El-Shahawy performed a transplant involving a mother who received two organs from her children — one who donated a liver and the other who donated a kidney — marking the first time a person had undergone a dual kidney and liver transplant from live donors.
USC surgical team Nicholas Jabbour, Rick Selby and Yuri Genyk performed Southern California’s first living-related liver transplant at USC University Hospital in 1999.
USC surgical team Nicholas Jabbour, Rick Selby and Yuri Genyk performed the world’s first living-related “bloodless” liver transplant in 1999.
In January 1993, Vaughn Starnes, M.D., USC’s Hastings Professor of Surgery, performed the world’s first double-lobar lung transplant from living-related donors at USC University Hospital.
In April 2001 USC cardiothoracic chief Vaughn Starnes remotely guided a three-armed, 1,000 pound da Vinci Surgical System robot that mimics surgeon’s hands to conduct Southern California’s first robotic heart surgery. The device potentially could operate from miles away.
Film critic, founder of the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at USC’s School of Cinema-Television and pioneering Hollywood business reporter Arthur D. Murphy was responsible for establishing motion picture box-office coverage.
USC researcher James Paget Henry contributed to the first U.S. space missions and to the development of a pressure suit used by Air Force and Navy pilots.
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