Nathan Myhrvold
Microsoft’s first CTO, founder of Intellectual Ventures and author of Modernist Cuisine
- Age
- 67 yrs
- Birthday in 270 days
- Works listed
- 2
- Book
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
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Nathan Myhrvold is an American scientist and inventor who was Microsoft’s first chief technology officer and founded Microsoft Research. He co-founded the patent firm Intellectual Ventures and the nuclear company TerraPower, and is the lead author of the cookbook Modernist Cuisine.
Biography
Prodigy
Myhrvold entered college at 14 and earned a PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics at Princeton at 23. He was a postdoctoral researcher with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge.
Microsoft
Microsoft bought his start-up Dynamical Systems Research in 1986. He became its first CTO and in 1991 founded Microsoft Research, now one of the world’s largest corporate research labs.
Intellectual Ventures
In 2000 he co-founded Intellectual Ventures, which bought and licensed tens of thousands of patents and was criticised as a “patent troll”. He co-founded TerraPower with Bill Gates to develop advanced nuclear reactors.
Cooking
A trained chef and award-winning barbecue cook, he led the creation of Modernist Cuisine (2011), a six-volume science-based cookbook, followed by books on bread and pizza.
Timeline
-
1959
Born in Seattle, Washington, United States
-
1983
PhD from Princeton
-
1986
Joins Microsoft
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1991
Founds Microsoft Research
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2000
Leaves Microsoft; co-founds Intellectual Ventures
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2006
Co-founds TerraPower
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2011
Modernist Cuisine
Notable works
-
2011
Modernist Cuisine Book
With Chris Young and Maxime Bilet.
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2017
Modernist Bread Book
Did you know?
-
1
He won first place at a world barbecue championship in 1991.
-
2
He has studied dinosaur fossils and co-authored papers on them.
-
3
He worked with Stephen Hawking on quantum gravity.
Connections
Related people
Frequently asked
Who is Nathan Myhrvold?
Nathan Myhrvold is an American scientist and inventor who was Microsoft’s first chief technology officer and founded Microsoft Research. He co-founded the patent firm Intellectual Ventures and the nuclear company TerraPower, and is the lead author of the cookbook Modernist Cuisine.
How old is Nathan Myhrvold?
Nathan Myhrvold is 67 years old, born on 3 August 1959 in Seattle, Washington, United States.
Where is Nathan Myhrvold from?
Nathan Myhrvold was born in Seattle, Washington, United States.
What is Nathan Myhrvold known for?
Nathan Myhrvold is best known for Microsoft Research; Intellectual Ventures; TerraPower; Modernist Cuisine.
References
- Nathan Myhrvold — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Nathan Myhrvold — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. nathanmyhrvold.com. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Nathan Myhrvold (Q365578) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Nathan Myhrvold”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Nathan Myhrvold.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/nathan-myhrvold
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