Saul Griffith (born 1974) is an Australian–American inventor and renewable electricity advocate.[1] He is the founder or co-founder of multiple companies, including Otherlab (where he is currently CEO), Makani Power, and Instructables.[2]
Saul Griffith | |
|---|---|
 Griffith in 2008 | |
| Born | Sydney, Australia |
| Alma mater | University of New South Wales (B.MET.E) University of Sydney (M.E.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| Known for | Energy conservation, Howtoons |
| Awards | MacArthur Fellowship (2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Material science |
Education
editIn 2000, Griffith graduated from the University of Sydney with a Master of Engineering degree.[3] 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.[4]
Projects
editGriffith is the co-founder and CEO of OtherLab, a research and development company working on computational manufacturing and design tools[5] and applying those tools to projects such as inflatable pneumatic robots and prostheses,[6] novel approaches to heliostat design,[7] and applications of computational origami to the design of pressure vessels (e.g. for compressed natural gas) in arbitrary shapes.[8] Otherlab's R&D is guided by a vast map of energy flows in the US economy,[9] which they use to identify key leverage points in building a more sustainable energy economy.
Griffith used this energy flow mapping for Rewiring America, a nonprofit organization working on electrification.[10] He argues that the United States can create 30 million jobs, save consumers money, boost energy resiliency, and accelerate achievement of a net zero economy.[11][12]
Previously, he was a co-founder of Squid Labs,[13] and its spinout companies and projects Makani Power,[14] Instructables, Wattzon, HowToons, OptiOpia, Potenco, Sunfolding, Other Machine Company and Monkeylectric.[15][2]
Personal life
editGriffith used to live in San Francisco.[16] As of 2022, he has relocated to Australia, living in Wollongong.[1]
He is married to Tim O'Reilly's daughter Arwen.[17] He has two children.[18]
Griffith's mother is a wildlife artist, early Greenpeace activist and printmaker, while his father is a retired professor.[10]
A portrait of Griffith by artist Jude Rae was highly commended in the 2022 Archibald Prize.[19]
Publications
edit- Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future (2021). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT University Press. ISBN 9780262046237 (Hardcover edition).[20]
References
edit- ^ a b Seccombe, Mike (2022-02-05). "The Joe Biden adviser living in Wollongong". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ a b Coxon, Sara-Katherine (2020-07-22). "Saul Griffith". Climate One. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ "Meet the class of 2007: Saul Griffith". MacArthur Fellows Program. MacArthur Foundation. 28 January 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ Griffith, Saul (September 2004). Growing Machines (PhD thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ "Projects". otherlab.com.
- ^ "Solve for X: Saul Griffith on inflatable robots". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
- ^ "Novel, Disruptive Approaches to Heliostat Design". sunfolding.com.
- ^ "Conformable Tank". otherlab.com.
- ^ Peters, Adele (August 9, 2016). "This Very, Very Detailed Chart Shows How All The Energy In The U.S. Is Used". Fast Company. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- ^ a b Pannett, Rachel (2021-05-29). "An Australian inventor wants to stop global warming by electrifying everything". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2021-05-29. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ "Rewiring America".
- ^ Roberts, David (August 6, 2020). "How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly: The US has everything it needs to decarbonize by 2035". Vox.
- ^ billysorrentino. "Rogue Inventor Saul Griffith Is Radicalizing R&D — With Inflatable Arms". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ "Makani". X, the moonshot factory. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ Holthouse, David (December 6, 2007). "How $500,000 can save the world". Fortune Small Business. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
- ^ "September 15, 2010". The Colbert Report. September 15, 2010. Comedy Central. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016.
- ^ Owen, David (May 17, 2010). "The Inventor's Dilemma". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- ^ Kalish, Jon (2019-06-14). "Inside Otherlab's World of Flying Inventions and Elastic Machines". PCMag UK. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ "Archibald Prize Archibald 2022 work: The big switch – portrait of Dr Saul Griffith by Jude Rae". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2023-03-04.
- ^ Griffith, Saul (12 October 2021). Electrify: an optimist's playbook for our clean energy future. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-54504-4. ISBN for paperback edition.