Bram Cohen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bram Cohen
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Cohen in 2015
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| Born | October 12, 1975 |
| Alma mater | University at Buffalo |
| Occupation | Chief executive officer, Chia Network |
| Known for | BitTorrent protocol |
| Spouse(s) | Jenna Cohen (divorced 2022) |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Ross Cohen (brother) |
| Awards | USENIX STUG Award Time 100 MIT TR35 |
Bram Cohen is an American computer programmer who created the BitTorrent protocol in 2001. This protocol is a special set of rules that helps people share large files online. He also made the first program that used this protocol, also called BitTorrent. Bram Cohen also helped start CodeCon, a conference for new technology projects. More recently, he created the Chia cryptocurrency.
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Early Life and Computer Adventures
Bram Cohen grew up in New York City. His mom was a teacher, and his dad was a computer scientist. Bram says he started learning the BASIC programming language when he was just 5 years old! He used his family's Timex Sinclair computer.
When he was in high school, Bram was very good at math. He even qualified for a big math competition called the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. After high school, he went to the University at Buffalo. However, he later left college to work for different internet companies in the 1990s.
One of these companies was MojoNation. This project allowed people to break up secret files into small, encrypted pieces. These pieces were then stored on many different computers. If someone wanted to download a file, they would get pieces from many computers at once. Bram realized this idea could be perfect for sharing files faster.
How BitTorrent Changed File Sharing
In April 2001, Bram Cohen started working on BitTorrent. He designed it to download files from many different sources at the same time. This makes downloading much faster, especially for very large files. Imagine you want to download a big video game. Instead of getting it from just one place, BitTorrent lets you get small parts of it from many different people who already have it.
This means the more popular a file is, the faster you can download it. That's because many people will be downloading and sharing parts of it at the same time. Bram first showed his ideas at the first CodeCon conference. He and his roommate, Len Sassaman, created CodeCon to show off cool new technology.
Bram wrote the first BitTorrent program using the Python computer language. Over time, BitTorrent became very popular for sharing large music and movie files online. Many other programs now use the BitTorrent protocol.
Bram Cohen has said he has never broken copyright laws using his software. He believes that the old ways media companies do business are changing.
In 2003, Bram worked briefly at Valve Corporation, a company that makes video games. He helped with their digital distribution system called Steam.
By 2004, Bram left Valve and started his own company, BitTorrent, Inc.. He started it with his brother, Ross Cohen, and a business partner, Ashwin Navin. In 2012, they even announced a test version of BitTorrent Live, which was for broadcasting TV over the internet. Bram left BitTorrent, Inc., in 2017 to start a new company called Chia Network.
BitTorrent and Copyright Agreements
By 2005, BitTorrent, Inc., received funding from investors. Later that year, Bram Cohen and Ashwin Navin made an agreement with the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). This agreement meant that the official BitTorrent website would remove links to illegal content. This deal was made with the seven largest movie studios in the United States. It showed that the site would follow rules to protect copyrighted material.
Chia Network: A New Kind of Cryptocurrency
Chia Network is a company Bram Cohen started in 2017. They created a cryptocurrency called Chia (XCH). Cryptocurrencies are digital money. Chia is designed to be different from others like Bitcoin. Bitcoin uses a lot of energy to create new coins. Chia uses a method called "proof-of-space-time." This means it uses computer storage space (like hard drives) instead of lots of electricity.
The idea behind Chia is to avoid wasting energy. It also aims to be more secure than some other digital currencies. Chia Network has received money from investors to help it grow. Because Chia uses computer storage, some people have wondered if it might make hard drives more expensive or wear them out faster.
Bram Cohen's Personal Life and Hobbies
Bram Cohen lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. He has three children. He and his wife, Jenna, divorced in 2022.
Bram has said that he believes he has Asperger syndrome. This is a type of autism that can affect how people communicate and interact.
Bram has many interesting hobbies. He enjoys creating original origami designs, which is the art of paper folding. He also likes juggling and can juggle up to five balls! His main interest is in recreational mathematics, which means doing math for fun. He has a blog where he talks about math topics, like how different money systems work or games of skill. He also loves assembly puzzles. He has even designed some puzzles himself, including gear-based puzzles and a special Rubik's Cube variant. Some of his puzzle designs can even be made using 3-D printing.
Awards and Recognition
Bram Cohen has received several awards for his work on the BitTorrent protocol:
- 2004 Wired Rave Award
- 2005 MIT Technology Review TR35 award, recognizing him as one of the top 35 innovators under 35 years old
- 2005 Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People
- 2006 USENIX STUG Award
- 2010 Internet Evolution 100
See also
In Spanish: Bram Cohen para niños
