Nathan Myhrvold: Difference between revisions

'''Nathan Paul Myhrvold''' (born August 3, 1959), formerly [[Chief Technology Officer]] at Microsoft, is co-founder of [[Intellectual Ventures]] and the principal author of ''[[Modernist Cuisine]]'' and its successor books. Myhrvold was listed as co-inventor on 17<ref>[http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm Search for Myhrvold's Microsoft patents] - use search argument in Query box: APT/1 and IN/Myhrvold-Nathan$ and AN/Microsoft and APD/1/1/1985->1/1/2000</ref> U.S. patents at Microsoft and is co-inventor on over 900 other U.S. patents issued to his corporation and its affiliates.<ref>[http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm Search for Myhrvold's non-Microsoft issued U.S. patents] - use search argument in Query box: APT/1 and IN/Myhrvold-Nathan$ andnot AN/Microsoft</ref>

Myhrvold left Cambridge to co-found a computer startup in [[Oakland, California]]. The company, Dynamical Systems Research Inc. (DSR), sought to produce Mondrian, a clone of [[IBM]]'s [[TopView]] [[Computer multitasking|multitasking]] environment for DOS. Myhrvold served as DSR's president.<ref name="new-yorker-97"/> Microsoft purchased DSR in 1986 for $1.5M in stock.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/A_History_of_the_Personal_Computer|title=A History of the Personal Computer: The People and the Technology |date=2001-10-01|author=Roy A. Allan|publisher=Allan }}</ref> Myhrvold worked at [[Microsoft]] for 13 years in a variety of executive positions, culminating in his appointment as the company's first chief technology officer in 1996.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.microsoft.com/1996/10/29/microsoft-realigns-product-groups-creates-chief-technology-officer-enhances-focus-on-internet-interactive-media-and-future-technologies/|title=Microsoft Realigns Product Groups, Creates Chief Technology Officer; Enhances Focus on Internet, Interactive Media and Future Technologies|date=1996-10-29|work=Microsoft Press Release|access-date=2018-01-06|language=en-US}}</ref> At Microsoft he founded [[Microsoft Research]] in 1991.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold Takes Leave of Absence|date=June 1, 1999|publisher=Microsoft|url=https://news.microsoft.com/1999/06/01/microsoft-chief-technology-officer-nathan-myhrvold-takes-leave-of-absence/|access-date=January 5, 2018|work=Press Release}}</ref>

After Microsoft, in 2000 Myhrvold co-founded [[Intellectual Ventures]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://webreprints.djreprints.com/2032070014238.pdf |title=Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures |access-date=September 15, 2008}} Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2008</ref> a patent portfolio developer and broker in the areas of technology and energy, which has acquired over 30,000 patents.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article7127608.ece |title=Green Pioneers: Godfather of nutty inventions |access-date=June 2, 2010 | location=London | work=[[The Times]]| first=Mark| last=Harris| date=May 16, 2010}} Mark Harris, The Sunday Times, May 16, 2010</ref> Intellectual Ventures takes part in the market for inventions and patents, buying patents from companies and inventors under the assumption the patents will be more valuable in the future. IV also files patents through the work of a team of on-site inventors. Startup companies spun out of IV, including [[TerraPower]], [[Kymeta]], Echodyne, Modern Electron, Lumotive, Evolv Technology, and Pivotal Commware, have developed commercial products from IV's inventions. Through its Global Good unit, which Myhrvold founded in collaboration with Bill Gates, IV has also invented and produced commercial products, such as improved vaccine coolers and milking cans, aimed at low-income markets in Africa and Asia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.devex.com/news/with-help-from-bill-gates-this-lab-is-reinventing-its-approach-to-invention-89204|title=With help from Bill Gates, this lab is reinventing its approach to invention|last=Cheney|first=Catherine|date=2016-11-22|work=Devex|access-date=2018-01-06|language=en-US}}</ref> However, in most cases, IV's inventions are limited to the descriptions provided in their patents, which are bundled into portfolios for licensing.

Myhrvold has described his goal for Intellectual Ventures as helping to create a market for patent-backed securities.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://hbr.org/2010/03/the-big-idea-funding-eureka/ar/1 |title=The Big Idea: Funding Eureka! |access-date=October 21, 2012 | location=Cambridge | work=[[Harvard Business Review]]| first=Nathan| last=Myhrvold| date=March 16, 2010}} Nathan Myhrvold, Intellectual Ventures, March 2010</ref> The company's business practices have caused controversy, however, with some deprecating the firm as a [[patent troll]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack|title=This American Life: When Patents Attack |access-date=July 25, 2011 | date=July 24, 2011}} Ira Glass, [[NPR]], July 24, 2011</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Baskin |first1=Morgan |title='The Ultimate Patent Troll' |url=https://psmag.com/magazine/a-patent-boogieman-with-the-potential-to-obliterate-aspiring-startups |access-date=31 March 2023 |issue=Aug/Sep 2017 |publisher=Pacific Standard |date=2018-09-16}}</ref> Myhrvold has publicly defended his firm's practices, arguing that they foster innovation by serving as a marketplace for intellectual property. He has noted that many of the largest companies in [[Silicon Valley]], including [[Google]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], and [[Facebook]], have also bought large patent portfolios and used litigation to protect them, but he has criticized them as focusing too much on creating "tools or toys for rich people."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.1843magazine.com/content/features/myth-buster|title=Nathan Myhrvold, myth buster|last=Renton|first=Alex|date=2015-01-26|work=1843 (The Economist)|access-date=2018-01-06}}</ref>

In the popular press, Myhrvold's company [[Intellectual Ventures]] has been repeatedly accused of acting as [[patent trolls]] and stifling innovation by buying patents and then forcing inventors to license their ideas by means of litigation. [[Walt Mossberg]] interviewed Myhrvold about Intellectual Ventures' role as a "patent troll" during the 10th annual [[All Things Digital]] conference.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Murph |first1=Darren |title=Intellectual Ventures' Nathan Myhrvold defends patent trolling, calls tech industry immature |url=https://www.engadget.com/2012-05-30-intellectual-ventures-nathan-myhrvold-defends-patent-trolling.html |access-date=31 March 2023 |publisher=Engadget |date=2012-05-30}}</ref>

According to [[The New York Times]], Intellectual Ventures at one point controlled nearly 70,000 intellectual property assets (patents and patents pending) that it has used to generate approximately $3 billion in revenues, primarily in the form of license fees from large corporations. The company responds that it has returned more than $500 million to individual inventors and most of the remaining revenues to its investors.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/business/ftc-turns-a-lens-on-abusers-of-the-patent-system.html|title=Inventive, at Least in Court|last=Wyatt|first=Edward|date=2013-07-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-01-06|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

}}</ref> ''[[Paleobiology (journal)|Paleobiology]],''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Currie |first1=Philip |last2=Myhrvold |first2=Nathan |year=1997 |title=Supersonic sauropods? Tail dynamics in the diplodocids |journal=[[Paleobiology (journal)|Paleobiology]] |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=393–409 |doi= 10.1017/S0094837300019801|s2cid=83696153 |url=http://paleobiol.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/393 }}</ref> ''[[PLOS One]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal

After the [[Science Museum (London)|Science Museum]] in London successfully built the computing section of [[Charles Babbage]]'s [[Difference Engine]] #2 in 1991, Myhrvold funded the construction of the output section, which performs both [[printing]] and [[Stereotype (printing)|stereotyping]] of calculated results. He also commissioned the construction of a second complete Difference Engine #2 for himself, which was on display at the [[Computer History Museum]] in [[Mountain View, California]], from May 10, 2008, to January 31, 2016, and currently resides in the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.engadget.com/2008/04/21/computer-history-museum-unboxes-a-babbage-difference-engine/ |title=Computer History Museum unboxes a Babbage difference engine |access-date=April 28, 2008}}</ref><ref name="chm">{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/press/babbage-engine-extension.html |title=The Computer History Museum Extends Its Exhibition of Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 |website=press release |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |date=March 31, 2009 |access-date=November 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223042457/http://www.computerhistory.org/press/babbage-engine-extension.html |archive-date=February 23, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/|title=The Babbage Engine exhibit at Computer History Museum|access-date=April 7, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2016/01/29/computer-museum-bids-farewell-to-babbage-engine Difference Engine Leaves Computer History Museum], Mark Moack, Mountain View Voice, January 28, 2016</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.geekwire.com/2016/inside-intellectual-ventures-lab/|title=Inside the invention factory: Get a peek at Intellectual Ventures' lab|last=Boyle|first=Alan|date=2016-09-11|work=GeekWire|access-date=2018-01-06|language=en-US}}</ref>

While working as chief technology officer at Microsoft, Myhrvold took leave to earn his culinary diploma from [[École de Cuisine La Varenne]] in France.<ref name=":0" /> Myhrvold's early culinary training was as an observer and unpaid apprentice at ''Rover's'', one of [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle's]] leading restaurants, with Chef [[Thierry Rautureau]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clifton |first1=Denise |title=Nathan Myhrvold, the man top chefs turn to for food science advice |url=https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/nathan-myhrvold-the-man-top-chefs-turn-to-for-food-science-advice-20160509-goq1sk |access-date=1 April 2023 |publisher=The Australian Financial Review |date=2016-06-23}}</ref> Myhrvold is the principal author of a culinary text entitled ''[[Modernist Cuisine|Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking]],''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking|last=Nathan Myhrvold|first=Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet|publisher=The Cooking Lab|year=2011|isbn=978-0982761007|location=Bellevue, Washington|oclc=711381030}}</ref> released in March 2011, on the application of scientific research principles and new techniques and technology to cooking.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modernistcuisine.com |title=Modernist Cuisine |access-date=September 15, 2010}}</ref> That book, which earned a [[James Beard Foundation Award]] for "cookbook of the year" in 2012, was followed by the books ''Modernist Cuisine at Home'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Modernist Cuisine at Home|last=Nathan Myhrvold|first=with Maxime Bilet|publisher=The Cooking Lab|year=2012|isbn=978-0982761014|location=Bellevue, WA|oclc=794709458}}</ref> ''The Photography of Modernist Cuisine'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Photography of Modernist Cuisine|last=Myhrvold|first=Nathan|publisher=The Cooking Lab|year=2013|isbn=978-0982761021|edition=First|location=Bellevue, WA|oclc=844729041}}</ref> ''[[Modernist Bread]]'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Modernist Bread: The Art and Science|last=Nathan Myhrvold|first=Francisco J. Migoya|publisher=The Cooking Lab|year=2017|isbn=978-0982761052|location=Bellevue, WA|oclc=959037081}}</ref> and ''[[Modernist Pizza]]'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Modernist Pizza|last=Nathan Myhrvold|first=Francisco J. Migoya|publisher=The Cooking Lab|year=2021|isbn=978-1734386127|location=Bellevue, WA|oclc=1252411781}}</ref> all self-published by Myhrvold and with him as lead author. Myhrvold was part of a team that won first place at the world barbecue championships in Memphis.<ref name=":0" /> He has appeared as a guest judge on ''[[Top Chef]]''.

In interviews with CNN, ''[[SuperFreakonomics]]'' author Stephen Dubner, and ''Scientific American'', Myhrvold has discussed ways to reverse some of the effects of [[global warming]]/[[climate change]] by using [[climate engineering|geoengineering]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/albedo-yachts-and-marine-clouds/|title="Albedo Yachts" and Marine Clouds: A Cure for Climate Change?|last=Mims|first=Christopher|work=Scientific American|access-date=2018-01-06|language=en}}</ref> Myhrvold and other inventors working with Intellectual Ventures have proposed several approaches, including one that would use hoses, suspended from [[helium]] balloons {{convert|25|km|mi|sp=us}} above the [[Earth]] at high latitudes, to emit [[sulfur dioxide]], which is known to scatter light.<ref>{{Citation|last=IntellectualVentures|title=The Stratoshield "Hose to the Sky" Could Reverse Global Warming|date=2009-10-26|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrimZzgqwdo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/JrimZzgqwdo| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|access-date=2018-01-06}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Zakaria |first1=Fareed |title=Solving Global Warming with Nathan Myhrvold |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0912/20/fzgps.01.html |access-date=1 April 2023 |work=GPS |publisher=CNN |date=2009-12-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Caldeira |first1=Ken |last2=Wood |first2=Lowell |title=Global and Arctic climate engineering: numerical model studies |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A |date=2008-08-29 |volume=366 |issue=1882 |pages=4039–4056 |doi=10.1098/rsta.2008.0132 |pmid=18757275 |s2cid=891722 |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2008.0132 |access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref>

Nathan Myhrvold has a younger brother, Cameron.<ref name="new-yorker-97"/> Myhrvold prefers to use a [[Dvorak keyboard]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2002/02/loving-the-dvorak-keyboard.html |title=Make Mine Dvorak |last=Thompson |first=Nicholas |date=February 5, 2002 |website=slate.com |publisher= |access-date=July 6, 2023 |quote=}}</ref>

*Auletta, Ken, "The Highwaymen", Harvest Books, 1998. {{ISBN|0-15-600573-5}} — cf Chapter 17: The Microsoft Provocateur: Nathan Myhrvold, Bill Gates Corporate Gadfly.

* [http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/nathan_myhrvold_could_this_laser_zap_malaria.html TED talk (embedded video): Nathan Myhrvold: Could this Laser Zap Malaria?] [[TED (conference)|TED]] lecture with demonstration Feb 2010

[[Category:UCLA Department of Earth Planetary and Space Sciences alumni]]