Ian Clarke (computer scientist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ian Clarke
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Ian Clarke in October, 2019
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| Born | 16 February 1977 |
| Citizenship | Ireland, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Known for | Freenet peer to peer software, Revver |
| Awards | 2003 Technology Review Young Innovator |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science, artificial intelligence |
Ian Clarke was born on February 16, 1977. He is a clever computer scientist from Ireland. He is best known for creating Hyphanet, which used to be called Freenet. This is a special kind of internet software.
Early Life and Discoveries
Ian Clarke grew up in a town called Navan in County Meath, Ireland. He went to Dundalk Grammar School. While he was there, he showed a lot of talent in science and math.
He won first place twice at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. In 1993, his project was about building a "Neural Network Construction Kit." The next year, he won again with a project about mapping light through objects.
Creating Freenet
In 1995, Ian went to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He studied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. He even helped restart the Artificial Intelligence Society at his university.
For his final project, he designed a system to store and find information online. It was called "A Distributed, Decentralised Information Storage and Retrieval System." In 1999, he shared his idea online. Many volunteers helped him build it. This project became known as Freenet. It got a lot of attention from news and tech companies.
After university, Ian worked for a few software companies. He later moved to California. There, he started a company called Uprizer, Inc. He wanted to use some of his Freenet ideas for business. In 2001, his company received $4 million in funding.
Ian also worked on an idea called FairShare. He thought it could be a new way to pay creators for their work. This was an alternative to traditional copyright rules.
Career and Innovations
In 2002, Ian started his own company, Cematics LLC. He explored many new ideas there. His company created tools like Locutus, which helped businesses search for information. They also made WhittleBit, a search engine that learned from users.
In 2003, Ian moved back to Edinburgh, Scotland. He started working on new projects like Dijjer and Indy. Dijjer was a system to share web pages. Indy helped people discover new music together. In the same year, the MIT named him one of the top 100 young innovators in the world.
Later, Ian helped start a company called Revver Inc.. This website let people share short videos. What made Revver special was that it was the first site to pay video creators for their work. This was similar to his FairShare idea.
In 2006, Ian moved to Austin, Texas. He founded a new company called SenseArray. This company created a special system for showing ads online. In 2009, he released Swarm. This was a new way to spread computer tasks across many computers.
In 2012, Ian co-founded OneSpot. Their goal was to create "ads that don't suck." He designed a system that could find the best ads for people. He also made LastCalc, a free online calculator.
