Nathan Myhrvold

Nathan Myhrvold is an American businessman, inventor, and polymath known for his diverse career spanning technology, intellectual property, and gastronomy. He served as the first chief technology officer at Microsoft Corporation, where he founded Microsoft Research and helped shape the company's long-term technical strategy. Following his tenure at Microsoft, he founded the invention and patent firm Intellectual Ventures, and later gained widespread acclaim for his multi-volume culinary science work, Modernist Cuisine. Myhrvold's work has earned him recognition as a National Medal of Technology and Innovation laureate and a James Beard Award winner.

Early life and education

Born in Seattle, he demonstrated an early aptitude for science, winning the Westinghouse Science Talent Search while attending Mercer Island High School. He enrolled at UCLA, earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's in geophysics and space physics, and a master's in mathematical economics within three years. Myhrvold then pursued a master's degree in theoretical and mathematical physics at Princeton University under the mentorship of Nobel laureate Stephen Hawking. He completed his doctoral studies at Cambridge University as a Hertz Foundation Fellow, conducting research in quantum field theory and cosmology.

Career at Microsoft

Recruited by Microsoft in 1986 after co-founding the software company Dynamical Systems, he quickly became a key technical strategist. Appointed as the company's first chief technology officer, he played a pivotal role in the development of MS-DOS, Windows NT, and the Microsoft Windows platform. He founded and directed Microsoft Research, establishing advanced laboratories in Redmond, Cambridge, and Beijing. His leadership helped guide Microsoft's investments in emerging fields like artificial intelligence and computer graphics. He left the company in 1999, following the United States v. Microsoft Corp. antitrust case, to pursue independent ventures.

Intellectual Ventures and patent portfolio

In 2000, he co-founded Intellectual Ventures, a private company focused on invention and patent licensing. The firm amassed one of the world's largest private patent portfolios, comprising tens of thousands of assets across sectors like information technology, biotechnology, and medical devices. This business model, often described as a patent assertion entity, attracted significant controversy and litigation, including high-profile cases against companies like Samsung and Motorola Mobility. The company also operated invention labs, developing technologies in areas such as nuclear reactor design, epidemiology, and mosquito control to combat malaria.

Scientific and culinary ventures

His scientific pursuits are wide-ranging, including paleontology, where he has funded and participated in Tyrannosaurus excavations in Montana. He is a licensed commercial pilot and an award-winning wildlife photographer, with work featured in National Geographic. He achieved global recognition in gastronomy by authoring the encyclopedic Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, which won multiple James Beard Awards. This led to the founding of The Cooking Lab, a culinary research and development kitchen, and subsequent publications like Modernist Bread and Modernist Pizza.

Publications and media appearances

He is the lead author of the Modernist Cuisine book series, published by The Cooking Lab. His writing on topics from asteroid deflection to COVID-19 pandemic modeling has appeared in scientific journals like The New England Journal of Medicine and popular publications such as The Wall Street Journal. He has been a frequent guest on television programs including 60 Minutes and The Colbert Report, and delivered talks at venues like TED and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Category:American chief technology officers Category:American inventors Category:American food writers