Saul Griffith

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Saul Griffith (born 1974) is an Australian–American inventor and renewable electricity advocate.[1] He is the founder or co-founder of multiple companies, including Otherlab (where he is currently CEO), Makani Power, and Instructables.[2]

Education

In 2000, Griffith graduated from the University of Sydney with a Master of Engineering degree.[3] He won a scholarship to MIT Media Lab to study towards a PhD that he completed in 2004. The subject of his PhD thesis was "self-replicating machines". They were one of the first instances of artificial replication being demonstrated using real physics.[4]

Projects

Griffith is the co-founder and CEO of OtherLab, a research and development company working on computational manufacturing and design tools[5] and applying those tools to projects such as inflatable pneumatic robots and prostheses,[6] novel approaches to heliostat design,[7] and applications of computational origami to the design of pressure vessels (e.g. for compressed natural gas) in arbitrary shapes.[8] Otherlab's R&D is guided by a vast map of energy flows in the US economy,[9] which they use to identify key leverage points in building a more sustainable energy economy.

Griffith used this energy flow mapping for Rewiring America, a nonprofit organization working on electrification.[10] He argues that the United States can create 30 million jobs, save consumers money, boost energy resiliency, and accelerate achievement of a net zero economy.[11][12]

Previously, he was a co-founder of Squid Labs,[13] and its spinout companies and projects Makani Power,[14] Instructables, Wattzon, HowToons, OptiOpia, Potenco, Sunfolding, Other Machine Company and Monkeylectric.[15][2]

File:Saul Griffith shot at Pop!Tech by Kris Krug.jpg
Saul Griffith giving a talk at Poptech 2008

Personal life

Griffith used to live in San Francisco.[16] As of 2022, he has relocated to Australia, living in Wollongong.[1]

He is married to Tim O'Reilly's daughter Arwen.[17] He has two children.[18]

Griffith's mother is a wildlife artist, early Greenpeace activist and printmaker, while his father is a retired professor.[10]

A portrait of Griffith by artist Jude Rae was highly commended in the 2022 Archibald Prize.[19]

Publications

  • Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future (2021). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT University Press. Template:ISBN (Hardcover edition) Template:Isbn (Paperback edition)
  • The Big Switch: Australia's Electric Future (2022). Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. Books. Template:ISBN (paperback edition).
  • The Wires That Bind: Electrification and Community Renewal (2023). Quarterly Essay 89. Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. Books. Template:ISBN (paperback edition).
  • Plug In! The Electrification Handbook (2025). Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. Books. Template:ISBN (paperback edition).

References

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External links

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