RPI trustee named to National Inventors Hall of Fame
TROY, N.Y. >> A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees member and graduate was recently named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees member Jeffrey L. Kodosky, a member of the Rensselaer Class of 1970, was recently named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF).
Officials said the announcement was made this past week at the CES 2019 annual conference in Las Vegas.
“The National Inventors Hall of Fame honors the innovation game- changers who have transformed our world,” said NIHF CEO Michael Oister in a news release. “Through inventions as diverse as life- saving medicines and web browsers for the visually impaired, these superhero innovators have made significant advances in our daily lives and well-being.”
“Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is indeed fortunate to have someone like Jeffrey Kodosky as part of its leadership,” added RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson in the release. “Election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame indicates the importance of his scientific contributions, which have had a significant impact on the world around us.”
According to the release, Kodosky was named along with National Instruments’ co-founder James Truchard for “Virtual Instrumentation – LabVIEW.”
Officials said that Kodosky and Truchard introduced LabVIEW in 1986 as a graphical programming language that enables userdefined testing and measurement and control systems.
The release stated that Kodosky co- founded National Instruments in 1976 and subsequently served as the company’s vice president of research and development from 1980 until he was named a National Instruments Business and Technology Fellow in 2000.
National Instruments is recognized as an industry leader in instrument control, according to the release.
Officials said that he also holds 68 patents associated with LabVIEW technology and was inducted into the Electronic Design Engineering Hall of Fame for his invention.
In addition to the Rensselaer board, officials said that Kodosky serves on the University of Texas College of Science Advisory Council, the UTeach Advisory Council, the UT Physics Department Advisory Council, and the Advisory Group at Southwest Texas State University’s Math Department.
In 1999, officials said he received the University of Texas College of Natural Sciences Hall of Honor Award and the Rensselaer Alumni Association Fellows Award. The release also noted that he was recognized with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1970.