Pat Hanrahan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pat Hanrahan
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Hanrahan in 2009
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| Born | May 8, 1955 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
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| Education | University of Wisconsin, Madison (BS, MS, PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer graphics |
| Institutions | New York Institute of Technology Stanford University Princeton University Pixar |
| Doctoral advisor | Antony Stretton |
| Doctoral students | Maneesh Agrawala, Ren Ng, Matt Pharr, Tamara Munzner, Peter Schröder |
Patrick M. Hanrahan, born on May 8, 1955, is an American computer scientist. He is a professor at Stanford University, where he teaches about computers. He is famous for his work in computer graphics. This means he helps create images and animations using computers. His research looks at how computers make pictures and how to show scientific information visually. He has won many awards, including the important Turing Award in 2019.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Pat Hanrahan grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1977, he earned a degree in nuclear engineering.
While studying, he also taught a new computer graphics course in 1981. One of his first students was Donna Cox. She later became known for her art and scientific visualizations. Pat Hanrahan earned his Ph.D. in biophysics in 1985.
Career Highlights
Working at Pixar
From 1986 to 1989, Pat Hanrahan was one of the first employees at Pixar Animation Studios. He helped design important software tools there. These tools included the RenderMan Interface Specification and the RenderMan Shading Language.
He was part of the teams that created famous Pixar productions. These include The Magic Egg (1984), Tin Toy (1988), and Toy Story (1995).
University and Software Work
In 1989, Hanrahan became a professor at Princeton University. He then moved to Stanford University in 1995.
In 2003, he helped start a company called Tableau Software. This company creates tools that help people understand data by showing it visually. He is still the chief scientist there.
In 2005, Stanford University became a special center for visualization and analytics. This center helps the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It focuses on showing information and data in clear ways.
Teaching and Mentoring
Pat Hanrahan has also guided many students who went on to become successful. Some of his doctoral students include Peter Schröder and Tamara Munzner. He has received three teaching awards from Stanford University.
Awards and Recognition
Pat Hanrahan has received many important awards for his work.
Academy Awards
He has won three Academy Awards for his contributions to computer graphics.
- In 1993, he and other Pixar founders received an award for their work on RenderMan.
- In 2004, he shared an award for research on how light scatters in see-through materials. This is called subsurface scattering.
- In 2014, he shared another award for their book Physically Based Rendering. This book explains how to make computer images look very real.
Other Major Awards
- In 2003, he received the SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award. This award recognized his leadership in creating computer graphics.
- He also received the SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award in 1993.
- In 2006, he won the Career Award for Visualization Research from the IEEE.
- He became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1999.
- He was also made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.
- In 2008, he became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Turing Award
In 2019, Pat Hanrahan shared the prestigious Turing Award with Edwin Catmull. This award is often called the "Nobel Prize of computing." They received it for their groundbreaking work in computer-generated imagery.
Quotes
- Curiosity and passion determine success
Quotes
- Curiosity and passion determine success
See also
In Spanish: Pat Hanrahan para niños
