Iain Neil received his 11th Scientific and Technical Academy Award, a record, at the ceremonies held in Beverly Hills in March, 2002. "It's a record for the Sci-Tech for an individual," Neil remarks. "I'm sure many companies have won 20 or 30." In the past, companies rather than individuals often received the awards. "The Sci-Tech committee in more recent history has tried to identify individuals as opposed to companies," explains Rich Miller, the Awards Administration Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "In the last 10 or 12 years, the committee has made major strides to give the awards to the people who actually did it." All of Neil's Academy Awards have been received with Panavision, where he currently serves as executive vice-president of research and development and optics as well as chief technical officer. Neil started his Panavision career in 1987 as the vice president of optics. Prior to joining Panavision, Neil had spent two years at Ernst Leitz Canada Ltd. (now a unit of Raytheon Systems Co; Midland, Ontario) and eight years at Barr and Stroud (now Pilkington Optronics; Glasgow, Scotland).  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1990: For the optical design, mechanical design and concept and development of the Primo Series of spherical prime lenses for 35mm photography. (w. Takuo Miyagishima & Panavision, Inc.)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1991: For the optical design, mechanical design and concept and development of the Primo Zoom Lens for 35mm cinematography. (w. Albert K. Saiki & Panavision, Inc.)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1992: For developing the Panavision System 65 Studio Sync Sound reflex camera for 65mm motion picture photography. (camera design) [w. Al Meyer (camera design), George Kraemer (also optical design), Hans Spirawski & Bill Eslick (opto-mechanical design) and Don Earl (technical support)]  Technical Achievement Award (Certificate) 1992: For the optical and mechanical design of the Panavision Slant Focus Lens, which allows for the focus plane to be tipped and rotated so that near and far objects can be simultaneously brought into focus. (w. Kaz Fudana)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1994: For the development of the Panavision 11:1 Primo Zoom Lens for motion picture photography. (optical design) (w. Albert K. Saiki, for the mechanical design, and Panavision International L.P.)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1995: For the optical design of the Primo 3:1 Zoom Lens. (w. Rick Gelbard, mechanical design; Eric Dubberke, engineering; & Panavision International, L. P., development)  Technical Achievement Award (Certificate) 1997: For the design and development of the Panavision/Frazier Lens System for motion picture photography. (w. Rick Gelbard; & Jim Frazier, concept)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1998: For the optical design (Neil), the mechanical design (Takuo Miyagishima) and the concept and development (Panavision) of the Primo Series of spherical prime lenses for 35mm cinematography.  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 1999: For the optical design, mechanical design, and for the development of the Millennium Camera System viewfinder. (w. Rick Gelbard and Panavision, Inc.)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 2000: For the optical design of the Panavision Millennium XL Camera System. (w. Al Mayer, Sr., & Al Mayer, Jr., for the mechanical design, and Brian Dang for the electronic design)  Scientific and Engineering Award (Plaque) 2001: For the concept and optical design of the Panavision Primo Macro Zoom Lens (PMZ). (w. Albert K. Saiki for the mechanical design) To listen to an interview with Iain Neil in RealAudio about the PMZ lens from National Public Radio, use this link. 11 Scientific/Technical Awards