Saul Griffith
Encyclopedia
Saul Griffith is an Australian American
inventor. He is best known for his inexpensive technique for making prescription eyeglasses. This method uses two flexible surfaces and a pourable resin.
where he graduated in 1997 with a B.MET.E. In 2000, Griffith graduated from the University of Sydney
with a Master of Engineering degree.
He won a scholarship to MIT Media Lab
to study towards a PhD that he completed in 2004.
The subject of his PhD Thesis was "self replicating machines". They were one of the first instances of artificial replication being demonstrated using real physics.
. He is now involved with Makani Power
, WattzOn, HowToons, Instructables, OptiOpia, Potenco and Monkeylectric.
Saul Griffith leads the movement to explain simply and illuminate the technical and practical energy needs of the planet. He also worked closely with the OLPC team to develop a portable human-powered source sufficient to regenerate a battery in a low-cost laptop.
Griffith now lives in San Francisco.
Australian American
An Australian American is a citizen of the United States who identifies with an Australian national background. This can include people of European, Asian, African or Pacific Islander backgrounds.-History:...
inventor. He is best known for his inexpensive technique for making prescription eyeglasses. This method uses two flexible surfaces and a pourable resin.
Early life and education
Saul Griffith was born into an academic family, and encouraged to question all around him, to experiment as a process of learning, and to communicate effectively. He was educated in the public school system at selective primary and secondary levels. He won a scholarship to study Material Science at the University of New South WalesUniversity of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
where he graduated in 1997 with a B.MET.E. In 2000, Griffith graduated from the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
with a Master of Engineering degree.
He won a scholarship to MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
to study towards a PhD that he completed in 2004.
The subject of his PhD Thesis was "self replicating machines". They were one of the first instances of artificial replication being demonstrated using real physics.
Awards
- 2007 – MacArthur Foundation "Genius grant".
- 2006 - WIRED “Rave” awards
- 2005 - Time Magazines “Top Inventions of 2005” (Smart electronic rope)
- 2005 - “Technologist in the aid of humanity” award, MITMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Technology ReviewTechnology ReviewTechnology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...
TR35TR35The TR35 is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.Some of the most famous winners of the award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Linus Torvalds , Jerry Yang , Jonathan Ive , Mark Zuckerberg...
, as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. - 2004 - Lemelson-MIT PrizeLemelson-MIT PrizeThe Lemelson Foundation awards several prizes yearly to inventors in United States. The largest is the Lemelson-MIT Prize which was endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, and is administered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
$30,000 Student Prize for invention - 2003 - MIT IDEAS competition award, Boeing Company Domestic Prize
- 2002 - Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering Symposium Fellow
- 2001 - National Inventors Hall Of Fame, National Collegiate Inventors Award
- 2000 - MIT LEGO Fellow
- 1998-2004 - Research Assistantship, MIT Media Laboratory
- 1994/5 - UNSW / UC Berkeley International Student Exchange
- 1993-98 - UNSW Co-Op Scholarship
Recent Patents and Publications (selected)
- Pat Pending: US Application 20030052425: Lens molding apparatus and related methods
- Pat Pending: US Application 20050231207: Electronic Elongation Sensing Rope
- Self-replication from random parts. S. Griffith, D. Goldwater, J.M. Jacobson. NATURE. Vol. 437,29 September 2005, pp. 636
- Nanostructure fabrication by direct electron-beam writing of nanoparticles. S. Griffith, M.Mondol, D. Kong, J. Jacobson. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 2768–2772, November 2002
- High Resolution Micromachined Interferometric Accelerometer. E.B. Cooper, E.R. Post, S.Griffith, J. Levitan, S.R. Manalis, M.A. Schmidt, C.F. Quate. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 76, No.22, May 2000
- Growing Machines. MIT PhD Thesis, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, September 2004 US 6,348,295; US 6,664,027: Methods for manufacturing electronic and electromechanical elements and devices by thin-film deposition and imaging
- Towards Personal Fabricators: Tabletop tools for micrometre and sub-micrometre scale functional rapid prototyping. MIT Master's Thesis. MIT Libraries, 2001
- Thinkcycle at MIT. Sharing Distributed Design Knowledge for Open Collaborative Design. N.Sawhney, S. Griffith, Y. Maguire, T. Prestero, TechKnowLogia, Jan-Mar 2002, pp. 49
Current projects
He is a co-founder of Squid LabsSquid Labs
Squid Labs is an independent Research and development company founded by a group of four MIT graduates. In 2004, Colin Bulthaup, Dan Goldwater, Saul Griffith, and Eric Wilhelm moved from the East Coast to California to found the company known as Squid Labs...
. He is now involved with Makani Power
Makani Power
Makani Power is an Alameda, California-based company that develops airborne wind turbines with the support of Google and the U.S. Department of Energy office of ARPA-E...
, WattzOn, HowToons, Instructables, OptiOpia, Potenco and Monkeylectric.
Saul Griffith leads the movement to explain simply and illuminate the technical and practical energy needs of the planet. He also worked closely with the OLPC team to develop a portable human-powered source sufficient to regenerate a battery in a low-cost laptop.
- 2008 co-Founder WattzonWattzonWattzOn is a free web-based online tool created by Saul Griffith and Raffi Krikorian. It allows users to calculate their total energy footprint by estimating their direct and indirect power consumption with the stated goal of educating users about energy efficiency and conservation...
— Developing personal energy audits to allow people and organizations to understand their power consumption. Role: Chief Scientist - 2007 co-Founder Optiopia, Inc. — Developing low cost solutions for testing refractive error and supplying corrective eyeglasses.
- 2006 co-Founder Makani Power — Role: President & Chief Scientist http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_future_of_renewable_energy.htmlTEDTEDTED may refer to:* TED , an annual multidisciplinary conference* TED spread, the yield spread between U.S...
talk video unveiling the invention what Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy. See Kite power.] - 2006 co-Founder Potenco (www.potenco.com) — Human-powered solutions for electronic devices. Role: Advisor to CEO, Colin Bulthap
- 2005 co-Founder Instructables LLC (www.instructables.com) — Open source step-by-step hardware construction collaboration. Role: Advisor to CEO, Eric Wilheim, Ph.D.
- 2004 co-Founder Squid Labs LLC — “Do Tank” research lab based in Emeryville, California. Role: Inventor
- 2004 co-Founder HowToons LLC — A mischievous, informal science education through comic books. Role: Author with Joost Bensen and Nick Dragotta
- Technical Advisor: make magazine, Popular Mechanics magazine
- Columnist / Contributor: MakeMake (magazine)Make is an American quarterly magazine published by O'Reilly Media which focuses on do it yourself and/or DIWO projects involving computers, electronics, robotics, metalworking, woodworking and other disciplines...
, CraftCraft (magazine)Craft: was a quarterly magazine published by O'Reilly Media which focused on do it yourself projects involving knitting, sewing, jewelry, metalworking, woodworking and other disciplines...
.
- Author of HowToons 120-page graphic novel to be published under Harper Collins, October 2 Video explanation.
Griffith now lives in San Francisco.
External links
- TED Talks: Saul Griffith on everyday inventions at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2006 - Howtoons toons his collaboration to produce how-to cartoons for kids
- http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/saul-griffith-discusses-starting-from-the-global-warming-finish-line-video.php