Disneyland, Vietnam and beyond Disneyland, Vietnam and beyond (January 27, 2006)

Former SRI executive writes book on a half-century of innovation

By Patricia Bass

What does the computer mouse, a new cancer treatment, and robot surgery have in common? Everything, according to author Donald L. Nielson.

His new book, "A Heritage of Innovation: SRI's First Half Century," incorporates those three innovations, and 53 others, as it explores the inventions and developments of SRI International -- a worldwide nonprofit research group based in Menlo Park.

In 1998, after more than 40 years of experience at SRI International -- first as a researcher, and then as vice president -- Nielson retired and began work on the nearly 450-page book.

"The main reason I wrote the book was to help SRI researchers become more aware of some of the important accomplishments made at SRI since it was founded in 1946,"Neilson said. "[But] it doesn't hurt that the book would cause others outside the institute to become more familiar with SRI's many accomplishments."

SRI was created in 1946 as the Stanford Research Institute and remained affiliated with the university until the late 1960s, when Stanford students organized multiple protests demanding an end to research into chemical and biological warfare and counter-insurgency.

A nine-day sit-in at the institute's Applied Electronics Lab, an occupation of Encina Hall, multiple arrests, tear-gassing, picketing and rock-throwing all led to the university relinquishing control of the institute, as well as the closure of the most controversial part of SRI -- a site at the Stanford Industrial Park that studied counter-insurgency in Southeast Asia.

Since Jan. 13, 1970, SRI International has operated on its own and engaged in more than 50,000 projects in the fields of science, technology, social systems and economics for the U.S. government, nonprofits and the commercial sector.

Neilson's book details projects from before and after SRI's split with the university, the most recognizable project being research into the opening of Disneyland in the 1950s.

"To understand [the operations of Disneyland] better, SRI held discussions across the United States with more than 10 major amusement park operators, four ride manufacturers, and others," Nielson wrote. "SRI's financial planning was detailed and included revenues from parking, admission, rides, food, and souvenirs; the operating organization required; and even the type and number of turnstiles to be used."

Currently, SRI International is conducting research into services for disabled children, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs.

As recently as July 25, the institute announced completion of several major milestones in this project, whose end goal is to create a way of measuring the effectiveness of programs for infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities.

Besides this wide array of research topics, many of which Nielson explores in his book, SRI International is also known for the new branch-off companies it creates -- like Nuance, which specializes in speech-recognition software platforms and was jump-started by Nielson himself -- and new fields of study altogether.

"We regularly invent new ideas that create entire new industries," Ellie Javardi, SRI International's Press Director, said. "For example, the Sarnoff Corporation" -- a company born from SRI -- "has won 10 Emmys and developed the U.S. HDTV standard."

Among other things, SRI created The Dish at Stanford, and researched techniques that can stimulate movement in a monkey's paralyzed limbs. It created laser systems to monitor air pollution and researched the sex habits of the bark beetle.

But all of the subjects are in some way interrelated, because they were chosen based on the interests of the actual researchers and scientists at SRI, making the work of the company a direct reflection of its employees, an aspect Nielson attempts to capture in his book.

"SRI, somewhat through the people it has trained in innovation, has had an important influence on the South Bay's culture for entrepreneurial activity," Nielson said. "It is hard to be an individual participant in that broad culture without wanting to change the world through your own actions."
This story originally appeared in the Palo Alto Weekly, the Voice's sister paper.

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