MIT World Speakers

A. Neil Pappalardo '64

After earning his S.B. in Electrical Engineering at MIT, A. Neil Pappalardo founded Medical Information Technology (Meditech), one of the earliest software companies. Meditech is a leading supplier of information system software for hospitals in the US, Canada and the UK. Meditech employs over 2,600 people, all in Massachusetts.

Pappalardo is a Life Member of the MIT Corporation and serves on the Institute's Executive committee, the Audit committee and three visiting committees. For the Mechanical Engineering department he has funded a full professorship, the construction of a major undergraduate teaching laboratory, a book series and the construction of a nano-technology manufacturing laboratory. For the Physics department he has helped fund the construction of the world-class Magellan optical telescope observatory in Chile, provided the funds to initiate and sustain a program for Physics fellows and provided major funding for the construction of the Green Center.

He is a Trustee of the New England Aquarium, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Dibner Institute and the Boston Lyric Opera. In 1996, he received an honorary degree from Suffolk University. In 2000, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid in his honor. In 2007, he received an honorary degree from the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.