Nathan Myhrvold

About

Nathan Myhrvold joined Microsoft in 1986, just two years after completing postdoctoral research in cosmology with Stephen Hawking (opens in new tab) at Cambridge University (opens in new tab). When Microsoft acquired the software company that Nathan had cofounded and was leading as CEO, he became Microsoft’s director for special projects. Over the next decade, Nathan oversaw the company’s advanced technology and business development teams and served as group vice president of applications and content. In 1991, he sent Bill Gates (opens in new tab) a 21-page memo (opens in new tab) titled “Microsoft Research Plan” and presented a proposal that led Microsoft to spin up a large corporate research lab at a time that many other tech giants were winding down such investments. Nathan recruited Rick Rashid (opens in new tab) to start up MSR and helped attract its first cohort of researchers.

Nathan coauthored the best-selling book The Road Ahead with Bill Gates in 1995. In 1996, Nathan became Microsoft’s first Chief Technology Officer, a position in which he served until his retirement from the company in 2000.

After leaving Microsoft, Nathan founded Intellectual Ventures, a technology invention, investment, and incubation company in Bellevue that so far has created more than 15 successful startups. Nathan is IV’s CEO and also one of its most prolific inventors, with more than 875 U.S. patents awarded. Along with Bill Gates, Nathan created Global Good (opens in new tab), which invents technologies for global health and development, as well as the Institute for Disease Modeling, a world leader in computational epidemiology. He has published original scientific research in paleontology, planetary science, climate science, and other fields. Since 2011, he has also published a series of award-winning cookbooks, including Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking (2011) and Modernist Bread (2017).