Saul Griffith
{{short description|Australian-American businessman (born 1974)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Saul Griffith
| image = Saul Griffith (2310546290) (cropped).jpg
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| caption = Griffith in 2008
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| birth_place = Sydney, Australia
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| field = Material science
| alma_mater = University of New South Wales (B.MET.E)
University of Sydney (M.E.)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
| known_for = Energy conservation, Howtoons
| influences =
| influenced =
| prizes = MacArthur Fellowship (2007)
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Saul Griffith (born 1974) is an Australian–American inventor and renewable electricity advocate.{{Cite web |last=Seccombe |first=Mike |date=2022-02-05 |title=The Joe Biden adviser living in Wollongong |url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2022/02/05/the-joe-biden-adviser-living-wollongong/164397960013274 |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=The Saturday Paper |language=en}} He is the founder or co-founder of multiple companies, including Otherlab (where he is currently CEO), Makani Power, and Instructables.
Education
In 2000, Griffith graduated from the University of Sydney with a Master of Engineering degree.{{cite web |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/825/ |title=Meet the class of 2007: Saul Griffith |work=MacArthur Fellows Program |publisher=MacArthur Foundation |date=28 January 2007 |access-date=21 June 2017 }} 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.{{cite thesis |author=Griffith |first=Saul |title=Growing Machines |date=September 2004 |access-date=18 November 2024 |degree=PhD |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |hdl=1721.1/28780 |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/28780}}
Projects
Griffith is the co-founder and CEO of OtherLab, a research and development company working on computational manufacturing and design tools{{cite web |title=Projects |url=http://www.otherlab.com/projects.html/ |publisher=otherlab.com}} and applying those tools to projects such as inflatable pneumatic robots and prostheses,{{cite web |title=Solve for X: Saul Griffith on inflatable robots | date=10 February 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqP3IpEqkk4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/tqP3IpEqkk4| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|publisher=youtube.com}}{{cbignore}} novel approaches to heliostat design,{{cite web |title=Novel, Disruptive Approaches to Heliostat Design |url=http://sunfolding.com |publisher=sunfolding.com}} and applications of computational origami to the design of pressure vessels (e.g. for compressed natural gas) in arbitrary shapes.{{cite web |title=Conformable Tank |url=http://conformabletank.otherlab.com/ |publisher=otherlab.com}} Otherlab's R&D is guided by a vast map of energy flows in the US economy,{{cite news | last=Peters | first=Adele | title=This Very, Very Detailed Chart Shows How All The Energy In The U.S. Is Used | url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3062630/this-very-very-detailed-chart-shows-how-all-the-energy-in-the-us-is-used | work=Fast Company | date=August 9, 2016 | access-date=November 14, 2018}} 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. 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.{{Cite web|title=Rewiring America|url=https://www.rewiringamerica.org/}}{{Cite web|last=Roberts|first=David|date=August 6, 2020|title=How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly: The US has everything it needs to decarbonize by 2035|url=https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/21349200/climate-change-fossil-fuels-rewiring-america-electrify|website=Vox}}
Previously, he was a co-founder of Squid Labs,{{Cite magazine |last=billysorrentino |title=Rogue Inventor Saul Griffith Is Radicalizing R&D — With Inflatable Arms |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/11/saul-griffith/ |access-date=2022-06-17 |issn=1059-1028}} and its spinout companies and projects Makani Power,{{Cite web |title=Makani |url=https://x.company/projects/makani/ |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=X, the moonshot factory |language=en}} Instructables, Wattzon, HowToons, OptiOpia, Potenco, Sunfolding, Other Machine Company and Monkeylectric.{{cite web |last=Holthouse |first=David |title=How $500,000 can save the world |url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/11/14/smbusiness/Saul_Griffith.fsb/?postversion=2007111509 |work=Fortune Small Business |access-date=September 19, 2010 |date=December 6, 2007}}{{Cite web |last=Coxon |first=Sara-Katherine |date=2020-07-22 |title=Saul Griffith |url=https://www.climateone.org/people/saul-griffith |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=Climate One |language=en}}
Personal life
Griffith used to live in San Francisco.{{cite episode |title=September 15, 2010 |series=The Colbert Report |series-link=The Colbert Report |network=Comedy Central |airdate=September 15, 2010 |url=http://www.cc.com/video-clips/n9nk9d/the-colbert-report-saul-griffith|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729200449/http://www.cc.com/video-clips/n9nk9d/the-colbert-report-saul-griffith|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 29, 2016}} As of 2022, he has relocated to Australia, living in Wollongong.
He is married to Tim O'Reilly's daughter Arwen.{{cite magazine | last=Owen | first=David | title=The Inventor's Dilemma | url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/05/17/the-inventors-dilemma | magazine=The New Yorker | date=May 17, 2010 | access-date=November 14, 2018}} He has two children.{{Cite web |last=Kalish |first=Jon |date=2019-06-14 |title=Inside Otherlab's World of Flying Inventions and Elastic Machines |url=https://uk.pcmag.com/news/121307/inside-otherlabs-world-of-flying-inventions-and-elastic-machines |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=PCMag UK |language=en-gb}}
Griffith's mother is a wildlife artist, early Greenpeace activist and printmaker, while his father is a retired professor.{{Cite news |last=Pannett |first=Rachel |date=2021-05-29 |title=An Australian inventor wants to stop global warming by electrifying everything |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/saul-griffith-mass-electrification/ |access-date=2022-06-17 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210529005356/https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/saul-griffith-mass-electrification/#selection-641.278-641.357 |archive-date=2021-05-29}}
A portrait of Griffith by artist Jude Rae was highly commended in the 2022 Archibald Prize.{{Cite web |title=Archibald Prize Archibald 2022 work: The big switch – portrait of Dr Saul Griffith by Jude Rae |url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2022/30447/ |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au |language=en}}
Publications
- Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future (2021). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-262-04623-7}} (Hardcover edition) {{isbn|978-0-262-54504-4}} (Paperback edition)
- The Big Switch: Australia's Electric Future (2022). Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. Books. {{ISBN|978-1-76064-387-4}} (paperback edition).
- The Wires That Bind: Electrification and Community Renewal (2023). Quarterly Essay 89. Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. Books. {{ISBN|978-1-76064-420-8}} (paperback edition).
- Plug In! The Electrification Handbook (2025). Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. Books. {{ISBN|978-1-76064-515-1}} (paperback edition).
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{TED speaker}}
- [https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2022/30447/ The big switch]
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Category:Australian emigrants to the United States
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Category:Businesspeople from San Francisco
Category:Businesspeople from Sydney
Category:Sustainability advocates
Category:University of New South Wales alumni