NATHAN MYHRVOLD is CEO and managing director of Intellectual Ventures, a private entrepreneurial firm he founded with his former Microsoft colleague, Dr. Edward Jung.
Before Intellectual Ventures, Dr. Myhrvold spent 14 years at Microsoft Corporation. In addition to working directly for Bill Gates, he was a top technical and business strategist for the company and was involved with founding the companyís scalable operating systems efforts which lead to the Windows NT and Windows CE product lines. During his tenure, Dr. Myhrvold held several executive positions, eventually retiring as Chief Technology Officer in May 2000.
In addition to advising Gates and the company on future business and technical strategies, Dr. Myhrvold was responsible for founding Microsoft Research and numerous technology groups that resulted in many of Microsoft's core, leading products.
Before assuming his role as CTO, Dr. Myhrvold was group vice president of applications and content, which comprised a number of company divisions, including desktop applications, consumer software and Microsoftís online systems. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of Microsoft's advanced technology division, responsible for advanced product development in areas such as interactive television (ITV), advanced graphics and identifying new forms of consumer computing.
Before joining Microsoft in 1986, Myhrvold was founder and president of Dynamical Systems. Prior to that he was a postdoctoral fellow in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at Cambridge University and worked with Professor Stephen Hawking on research in cosmology, quantum field theory in curved space time and quantum theories of gravitation.
Dr. Myhrvold holds a doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics and a master's degree in mathematical economics from Princeton University. He also has a master's degree in geophysics and space physics and a bachelor's degree in mathematics, all from the University of California, Los Angeles.
He has published scientific papers in journals including Science, Nature, Paleobiology and the Physical Review. His paper "Cyberpaleontology - Supersonic Sauropods," co-authored with Dr. Philip Currie, was added to the Smithsonian Institution's 1998 Innovation collection and was one of the 1998 finalists for the Computerworld Smithsonian Innovation Awards. He also co-authored The Road Ahead, with Bill Gates and has contributed to many popular magazines including Fortune, Time, Talk Magazine, National Geographic Traveler and the online magazine, Slate.