innovators

The warm autumn sun has burned a hole in the morning haze and opened up the sky above the South Foreland Lighthouse, a historic beacon along the White Cliffs of Dover, England. It marks the narrowest point of the English Channel. You can't quite make out where the sea meets the coast of France, a tantalizing 22 miles distant, but a little surface gauze won't interfere with what's coming across the Channel today.

“John was always into the military,” says Brian Hart. He and his wife, Alma, were hoping their son would go to college, “but when 9/11 happened, he was sure,” Hart recalls. “He wanted to serve.” John enlisted in September 2002 at age 19, drawing a place in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. By July, he was on the front line in Iraq and quickly realized that the Army had come to war unprepared. “He called me and said, ‘Dad, we need body armor. Can you help?’” The next week, October 18, 2003, John and his commanding officer were killed in their unarmored humvee during a roadside ambush.

“John was always into the military,” says Brian Hart. He and his wife, Alma, were hoping their son would go to college, “but when 9/11 happened, he was sure,” Hart recalls. “He wanted to serve.” John enlisted in September 2002 at age 19, drawing a place in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. By July, he was on the front line in Iraq and quickly realized that the Army had come to war unprepared. “He called me and said, ‘Dad, we need body armor.

We take about six months to create our annual list of the most impressive young scientists in the U.S., six months of quizzing academic department heads, professional organizations and journal editors about the most creative and important research in the country and the individuals making it happen. And every year, those leaders-a serious and measured group-nominate hundreds of candidates with barely contained excitement. "There is no doubt in my mind that his work will revolutionize the field," says one. "He has done something that, frankly, I thought was impossible," says another.