Robert W. Mann was “an engineer and former rocket scientist who developed the world’s first biomedical prosthetic device...Mann joined the MIT faculty in 1953, serving as a professor of mechanical engineering for almost 40 years. During that time, he also served as Whitaker Professor of Biomedical Engineering and as director of MIT’s Eric P. and Evelyn E. Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation from 1974 until his retirement in 1992...During the 1950s, Mann conducted research on internal power systems that led to the development of Sparrow I and III and Hawk missiles. By the mid 1960s, his research was focused primarily on applying technology to human disabilities.”—Sarah H. Wright for MIT News

• Read the 1983 citation by the Killian Award Selection Committee