Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author. He is probably best known for his work in Virtual Reality. Responsible for coining the term 'Virtual Reality', Lanier also became a principal pioneer in the scientific, engineering, and commercial aspects of the field. Currently, Jaron Lanier acts as lead scientist for a coalition of research universities studying advanced applications for Internet 2, known as the National Tele-immersion Initiative. He is also a visiting artist at the Interactive Telecommunications Program of the Tisch School of the Arts, at New York University, a visiting scholar at the computer science department of Columbia University, and a founding member of the International Institute for Evolution and the Brain, which is based at NYU, Harvard University, and the University of Paris. Lanier serves on numerous boards, and has been active in scholarly groups concerned with the future, including the World Economic Forum Fellows, and the Global Business Network. Jaron Lanier has proposed and implemented a variety of technologies that have since spawned industries in their own right. Among his lineup of "firsts" are the first "avatar" for network communications, the first moving camera virtual set for television production, and the first performance animation for 3D computer graphics. He was the first to propose web-based network computers. He was one of the originators of real-time surgical simulation and telesurgery and is also known as a pioneer in the field of visual programming. Jaron Lanier is a pianist and a specialist in unusual musical instruments, especially the wind and string instruments of Asia. He has also pioneered the use of Virtual Reality in musical stage performance with his band Chromatophoria. He plays virtual instruments and uses real instruments to guide events in virtual worlds. An exhibited artist, Jaron Lanier's paintings and drawings have graced museums and galleries in the United States and Europe. In 1994 he directed the film "Muzork" under a commission from ARTE Television. His 1983 "Moondust" is generally regarded as the first art video game, and the first interactive music publication. He has presented installations in New York City, including the "Video Feedback Waterbed" and the "Time-accelerated Painting". Lanier's one-man show premiered in 1997 at the Danish Museum for Modern Art in Roskilde. Jaron Lanier is also a well known author and speaker. His writing appears in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired (where he is a contributing editor), Harper
Jaron Lanier