News
Media Coverage
02 November 2020
I’m Interested in Lots of Things, and That’s Actually a Bad Strategy
University of Chicago economist and Freakonomics author Steven Levitt interviewed Nathan for the podcast People I (Mostly) Admire. Among the topics they discussed in their wide-ranging conversation: how Nathan met Bill Gates and eventually became Microsoft's first chief technology officer despite never having taken a computer science class, what it was like working with Stephen Hawking and his contributions to physics, the strategies and frustrations of being a prolific inventor, the crucial role that advanced fission power can play in combatting climate change, education of highly gifted children, and Nathan's forthcoming three-volume book on pizza.
12 August 2020
The OTHER Microsoft Guy Who Wants to Save the World
Bill Nye The Science Guy and Corey Powell interviewed Nathan in a wide-ranging conversation for the podcast Science Rules! They discussed: the asteroid that finished off the dinosaurs, Nathan's research into how some of the biggest dinos whipped their tails at supersonic speeds (probably to show off for the opposite sex), and Benjamin Franklin's seminal contribution to geoengineering. They also talked about what kind of changes we'd have to make to the U.S. electricity grid—both how it works and how it's regulated—to meet the goals goals that states have set to ramp up renewable power and to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Nathan revealed how early food critics in Italy panned pizza. And Bill asked Nathan what one subject he thinks everybody should understand a little better.
25 April 2020
How to barbecue perfectly according to a scientist (turned barbecue world champion)
Nathan Myhrvold is a barbecue world champion who studied physics under Stephen Hawking. In this exclusive extract from GQ’s book How To Win At Life, he explains why science is your secret ingredient...
08 November 2019
Nathan Myhrvold visits RIT; former Microsoft CTO is now an innovator of photography
Myhrvold has been able to combine two childhood passions
21 September 2019
How I Test Bold Ideas
Back in 2005, Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft colleague, showed me a long scientific paper on an innovative nuclear reactor and introduced me to the lead author, an inventive physicist named Lowell Wood who would go on to beat Thomas Edison’s record for the most U.S. patents in history. Lowell claimed that this reactor could satisfy “much of humanity’s requirements for electricity in the 21st century.” I was skeptical, but also intrigued.
Press Releases
16 December 2013
Study Shows Some Dinosaur Growth Rates Lower Than Previously Thought
Nathan Myhrvold cautions against drawing unsupported conclusions from dinosaur growth data
30 September 2013
Climate change: fast out of the gate, slow to the finish
A new study by Carnegie’s Ken Caldeira and Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures concludes that about half of the warming occurs within the first 10 years after an instantaneous step increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration, but about one-quarter of the warming occurs more than a century after the step increase. Their work is published in Environmental Research Letters.
16 February 2012
Only the lowest CO2 emitting technologies can avoid a hot end-of-century
Could replacing coal-fired electricity plants with generators fueled by natural gas bring global warming to a halt in this century? What about rapid construction of massive numbers of solar or wind farms, hydroelectric dams, or nuclear reactors—or the invention of new technology for capturing the carbon dioxide produced by fossil-fueled power plants and storing it permanently underground? Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures teamed up with Carnegie Institution’s Ken Caldeira to calculate the expected climate effects of replacing the world’s supply of electricity from coal plants with any of eight cleaner options.