An additional 11 cutting-edge scientists, writers, and thinkers have been added to the festival lineup!
Natalie Angier
Author and Science Writer, New York Times
Ms. Angier is an author and a Pulitzer Prize winning science columnist for the New York Times. She is the President’s Council of Cornell Women A.D. White Professor-at-Large. Her latest book entitled The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science is her guide to the fundamental concepts of modern science.
Neil Gershenfeld
Director, Center for Bits and Atoms, MIT
Dr. Gershenfeld is the Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, and has been named one of Scientific American’s 50 leaders in science and technology. He is best known as a pioneer in personal fabrication - small-scale manufacturing enabled by digital technologies, which gives people the tools to build literally anything they can imagine.
Jaron Lanier
Computer Scientist, Author, Berkeley University
Mr. Lanier was a pioneer in, and popularized the term “Virtual Reality” (VR). His monthly column “Jaron’s World” in Discover Magazine is devoted to his own wide ranging ideas and research that include computational approaches to the fundamentals of physics. His current appointments include Interdisciplinary Scholar-in-Residence, CET, UC Berkeley.
James Lovelock
Scientist
Dr. Lovelock is an independent scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurist. A recipient of the Geological Society’s Wollaston Medal, Lovelock has created and developed many scientific instruments, some of which were designed for NASA’s program of planetary exploration. He is also the originator of the Gaia theory, which postulates the Earth as a kind of superorganism.
Robert (Bob) Richards
Founder and CEO, Odyssey Moon Ltd.
Dr. Richards is the Founder and CEO of Odyssey Moon Ltd., a commercial lunar enterprise based in the Isle of Man, and the first official registrant in the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. He is also the Director of Space Technology at Optech Incorporated of Canada, where he presided over the first commercial lidar scanner flown in space.
