Mary Lou Jepsen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mary Lou Jepsen
Jepsen in 2025
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Brown University
Occupation	Technology Pioneer
Known for	Co-founder, One Laptop Per Child

Mary Lou Jepsen is a brilliant inventor and leader in technology. She has made big contributions to how we see and use screens, cameras, and computers. She helped start One Laptop per Child (OLPC), which made affordable laptops for kids around the world.

Later, she started her own company, Pixel Qi, to make special screens. She also worked at Google X and Facebook / Oculus VR, where she helped improve virtual reality. Her ideas have been used in many products, like HDTVs and laptop computers. In 2008, Time magazine called her one of the most important scientists. CNN also recognized her in 2013 for her work on display technology.

In 2016, Mary Lou Jepsen started Openwater. This company uses new technology to "see inside" the body, similar to an fMRI scan. Their work has grown to include treatments using light and sound waves. These treatments show great promise for helping with mental health issues, cancers, and heart diseases. Openwater's patents are free to use, and their software and hardware designs are open for everyone.

Early Life and School

Mary Lou Jepsen studied art and electrical engineering at Brown University. She earned a Master's degree in Holography from the MIT Media Lab. After that, she went back to Brown to get her Ph.D. in Optical Sciences. This means she studied how light works.

Amazing Inventions and Career

Mary Lou Jepsen has created many amazing things. Her Ph.D. work involved making special light-bending surfaces. She also built some of the largest displays ever seen.

In Cologne, Germany, she made a holographic copy of old buildings. She even showed it was possible to project TV images onto the Moon! From 2003 to 2004, she was a top technology officer at Intel's Display Division.

Helping Kids with Laptops

In 2005, Jepsen became a professor at the MIT Media Lab. There, she started a group focused on portable displays. She also helped create the world's first holographic video system in 1989. This system could create holograms that moved like video.

At the same time, she co-founded One Laptop per Child (OLPC) with Nicholas Negroponte. Their goal was to make a $100 laptop for children. This laptop was designed to use very little power. By 2013, millions of these laptops had been sent to kids in over 50 countries. Mary Lou Jepsen was the only employee for the first year of OLPC. She designed the first laptop and helped get it made in large numbers. She invented the screen technology that worked well in sunlight. She also helped create the system that made the laptop use very little power.

Creating Better Screens with Pixel Qi

In 2008, Jepsen started her own company called Pixel Qi. She wanted to use the screen technologies she invented at OLPC for other devices. Pixel Qi focused on making screens that were bright, used little power, and could be seen clearly in sunlight. Their goal was to make devices that almost never needed charging. Pixel Qi screens were used in many products. They helped reduce the power used by screens, which is a big part of a phone or tablet's battery use.

Working at Google X and Virtual Reality

Mary Lou Jepsen joined Google X in 2013. This is a special part of Google that works on big, futuristic projects. She helped guide projects related to displays and electronics. She worked on something called "Google Lego TV." These were displays made of smaller screens that could connect like Lego bricks. They could create huge, seamless images for walls, video calls, and games. She also explored ideas about "Imaging the Mind's Eye."

In 2015, she moved to Facebook to work on virtual reality.

Openwater: Seeing Inside the Body

In 2016, Mary Lou Jepsen started Openwater. This company aims to use special light and sound technology to "see inside" the human body. Their goal is to make this technology affordable and wearable. She gave a TED talk in 2018 about Openwater's technology. She also talked about how this technology could help with "telepathy," allowing thoughts and feelings to be shared electronically.

By 2020, Openwater began testing its devices in hospitals. They started human studies at Hartford Hospital. Later, they refined the devices with studies at Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Openwater also developed a way to use low-intensity ultrasound. They showed it could treat a type of brain tumor called glioblastoma in lab tests. They also did clinical trials at the University of Arizona. In these trials, nearly half of the people with severe depression went into remission using Openwater's therapeutic devices. These devices use sound waves to calm overactive brain cells.

This technology has amazing potential for treating many cancers, mental health conditions, and heart diseases. By 2024, Openwater had made their large hospital units much smaller and more affordable. The first wearable units are now complete and are scheduled for wider production in 2025.

In January 2024, Mary Lou Jepsen announced that Openwater had raised $54 million. This money helps them create an open-source platform to make disease treatment much cheaper.

Awards and Recognitions

Mary Lou Jepsen has received many awards for her important work:

• She was named one of the "100 most influential people in the world" by Time magazine.
• Athabasca University gave her an honorary doctorate in 2008.
• CNN named her one of the "top 10 thinkers" in 2013.
• She received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Brown University in 2014.
• She won the Edwin H. Land Medal from the Optical Society (OSA).
• She is a Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA).
• She was recognized as one of the top 50 female computer scientists ever by the Anita Borg Institute.
• She received two top alumni awards from Brown University: the Horace Mann Medal and the BEAM award.
• She won the ABIE Award for Innovation from the Anita Borg Institute in 2011.
• Forbes listed her among America's Top 50 Women In Tech in 2018.
• She was recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2019.

She has also received many other awards for her work with One Laptop per Child. She has been featured in "top" lists by Fast Company, New York Times, and IEEE Spectrum.

Personal Life

Mary Lou Jepsen is married to John Patrick Conor Ryan. She has openly shared about facing health challenges in her life.

See also

In Spanish: Mary Lou Jepsen para niños