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Science & Technology - Top Rated Keynote Speakers

Speakers Ranked combs the web and uses statistical algorithms to rate the best, most positively discussed keynote speakers in a broad list of categories, rendering an algebraic score for each.
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Speakers Ranked is not a speakers bureau. We do not accept payment for placement or receive commissions of any kind. If you like this free service, please donate via PayPal!
Bill Nye "The Science Guy"

Current Rank: 1
Statistical Rank: 9562
Direct Contact: billnye.com
Bestselling Author
Emmy Award Winner
PBS Broadcaster
Bill Nye has spent most of his life making science and technology entertaining and accessible. Combining his talents as a scientist, inventor, comedian, and author, he has attracted adults and children to the wonders of science. Nye's wit and enthusiasm have helped to garner 18 Emmy awards for his PBS/syndicated series Disney Presents Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Nye is also the host of Stuff Happens, a show examining the everyday stuff of our lives, and the far-reaching effects our actions have on the planet. He uses his trademark humor, to help viewers gain understanding on big issues, like the environment and sustainability, and presents positive, upbeat solutions to these critical problems.
Serving as an ambassador for science education, Nye has traveled across the US and has served on children's education, science, and TV committees and acted as an advocate for children's safety and health.
An accomplished author, Nye has written five books including, Bill Nye the Science Guy's Big Blast of Science, Bill Nye the Science Guy's Please Consider the Following--A Way Cool Set of Science Questions, Answers and Ideas to Ponder, and his most recent book, Bill Nye the Science Guy Considers the Big Blue Ocean.
Nye received a mechanical engineering degree from Cornell University, where he studied under Carl Sagan. He joined Boeing Commercial Airline Company in Seattle, where he worked on flight control systems until his love of entertainment led to work as a stand-up comic and his eventual creation of the persona of the Science Guy.
Statistical Rank: 9562
Direct Contact: billnye.com
Bestselling Author
Emmy Award Winner
PBS Broadcaster
Bill Nye has spent most of his life making science and technology entertaining and accessible. Combining his talents as a scientist, inventor, comedian, and author, he has attracted adults and children to the wonders of science. Nye's wit and enthusiasm have helped to garner 18 Emmy awards for his PBS/syndicated series Disney Presents Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Nye is also the host of Stuff Happens, a show examining the everyday stuff of our lives, and the far-reaching effects our actions have on the planet. He uses his trademark humor, to help viewers gain understanding on big issues, like the environment and sustainability, and presents positive, upbeat solutions to these critical problems.
Serving as an ambassador for science education, Nye has traveled across the US and has served on children's education, science, and TV committees and acted as an advocate for children's safety and health.
An accomplished author, Nye has written five books including, Bill Nye the Science Guy's Big Blast of Science, Bill Nye the Science Guy's Please Consider the Following--A Way Cool Set of Science Questions, Answers and Ideas to Ponder, and his most recent book, Bill Nye the Science Guy Considers the Big Blue Ocean.
Nye received a mechanical engineering degree from Cornell University, where he studied under Carl Sagan. He joined Boeing Commercial Airline Company in Seattle, where he worked on flight control systems until his love of entertainment led to work as a stand-up comic and his eventual creation of the persona of the Science Guy.
Steve Wozniak

Current Rank: 2
Statistical Rank: 9217
Direct Contact: woz.org
Co-Founder of Apple Computer
A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for the past three decades, Steve Wozniak helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple's first line of products, the Apple I and II, and influenced the popular Macintosh. For his achievements at Apple Computer, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed on America's leading innovators.
In 2000, Wozniak was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology, The Economy and Employment for “single-handedly designing the first personal computer and for then redirecting his lifelong passion for mathematics and electronics toward lighting the fires of excitement for education in grade school students and their teachers.”
Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, Wozniak “adopted” the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment. Wozniak founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.
He is currently Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Acquicor Technology, Inc., a 'blank check' company that acquires businesses in the technology, multimedia and networking sectors. He is also a published author with the release of his autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon, in September 2006.
Statistical Rank: 9217
Direct Contact: woz.org
Co-Founder of Apple Computer
A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for the past three decades, Steve Wozniak helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple's first line of products, the Apple I and II, and influenced the popular Macintosh. For his achievements at Apple Computer, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed on America's leading innovators.
In 2000, Wozniak was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology, The Economy and Employment for “single-handedly designing the first personal computer and for then redirecting his lifelong passion for mathematics and electronics toward lighting the fires of excitement for education in grade school students and their teachers.”
Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, Wozniak “adopted” the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment. Wozniak founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.
He is currently Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Acquicor Technology, Inc., a 'blank check' company that acquires businesses in the technology, multimedia and networking sectors. He is also a published author with the release of his autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon, in September 2006.
Esther Dyson

Current Rank: 3
Statistical Rank: 9031
Direct Contact: edventure.com/
Chairman of EDventure Holdings
Founding Chairman of ICANN
Esther Dyson has devoted her life to discovering the inevitable and promoting the possible. As an active investor and commentator, she focuses on emerging technologies and business models (peer-to-peer, artificial intelligence, the Internet, wireless applications), emerging markets (Eastern Europe) and emerging companies (see below). In 1994, she had already explored the impact of the Net on intellectual property (among other things, why Bill Gates now plans to offer software as an online service). In 1997, she wrote a book on the impact of the Net on individuals' lives, Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age. She remains an active player in discussions and policy-making concerning the Internet and society.
Dyson is chairman of EDventure Holdings, which publishes the influential monthly technology-industry newsletter, Release 1.0, and sponsors two of the industry's premier annual conferences, PC (Platforms for Communication) Forum in the US and EDventure's High-Tech Forum in Europe. Dyson also writes a fortnightly column for the New York Times syndicate, which also appears in EDventure's online newsletter, The Conversation Continues.
She recently finished a two-year-term as founding chairman of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international agency charged with setting policy for the Internet's core infrastructure (technical standards and the Domain Name System) independent of government control. Now she sits on its "reform" committee, dedicated to defining a role for individuals in ICANN's decision-making and governance structures.
After graduating from Harvard in economics, Dyson began her serious career in 1974 as a fact-checker for Forbes and quickly rose to reporter. In 1977 she joined New Court Securities as "the research department", following Federal Express and other start-ups. After a stint at Oppenheimer covering software companies, she moved to Rosen Research and in 1983 bought the company from her employer Ben Rosen, and renamed it EDventure Holdings.
Statistical Rank: 9031
Direct Contact: edventure.com/
Chairman of EDventure Holdings
Founding Chairman of ICANN
Esther Dyson has devoted her life to discovering the inevitable and promoting the possible. As an active investor and commentator, she focuses on emerging technologies and business models (peer-to-peer, artificial intelligence, the Internet, wireless applications), emerging markets (Eastern Europe) and emerging companies (see below). In 1994, she had already explored the impact of the Net on intellectual property (among other things, why Bill Gates now plans to offer software as an online service). In 1997, she wrote a book on the impact of the Net on individuals' lives, Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age. She remains an active player in discussions and policy-making concerning the Internet and society.
Dyson is chairman of EDventure Holdings, which publishes the influential monthly technology-industry newsletter, Release 1.0, and sponsors two of the industry's premier annual conferences, PC (Platforms for Communication) Forum in the US and EDventure's High-Tech Forum in Europe. Dyson also writes a fortnightly column for the New York Times syndicate, which also appears in EDventure's online newsletter, The Conversation Continues.
She recently finished a two-year-term as founding chairman of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international agency charged with setting policy for the Internet's core infrastructure (technical standards and the Domain Name System) independent of government control. Now she sits on its "reform" committee, dedicated to defining a role for individuals in ICANN's decision-making and governance structures.
After graduating from Harvard in economics, Dyson began her serious career in 1974 as a fact-checker for Forbes and quickly rose to reporter. In 1977 she joined New Court Securities as "the research department", following Federal Express and other start-ups. After a stint at Oppenheimer covering software companies, she moved to Rosen Research and in 1983 bought the company from her employer Ben Rosen, and renamed it EDventure Holdings.
Raymond Kurzweil

Current Rank: 4
Statistical Rank: 8875
Direct Contact: kurzweiltech.com
Inventor, Entrepreneur, Author
Raymond Kurzweil is an inventor, entrepreneur, author, and futurist. Called “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes, Kurzweil’s ideas on the future have been touted by his many fans, ranging from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. Inc. Magazine ranked him number eight among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” and PBS included him as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America.” MIT’s Marvin Minsky has said, “with his brilliant descriptions of the coming connections of computers and immortality, Kurzweil clearly takes his place as a leading futurist of our time.”
As one of the leading inventors of our time, Kurzweil was the principal developer of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
Kurzweil is the recipient of the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize, the world's largest for innovation. He has received honors from three US presidents, including Bill Clinton; when in 1999, he received the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor in technology. In addition, Kurzweil was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, established by the US Patent Office and has received nineteen honorary doctorates.
Kurzweil has written five books, four of which have been national bestsellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into nine languages and was the #1 best-selling book on Amazon.com in science. His latest book, The Singularity is Near, was a New York Times bestseller, and has been the #1 best-selling book on Amazon.com in both science and philosophy and has been made into a feature documentary released in late 2008.
Kurzweil is co-founder and chancellor of Singularity University. Launched with the support of NASA, Google and a broad range of technology thought leaders and entrepreneurs, Singularity University aims at preparing the next generation of leaders to address "humanity's grand challenges."
Statistical Rank: 8875
Direct Contact: kurzweiltech.com
Inventor, Entrepreneur, Author
Raymond Kurzweil is an inventor, entrepreneur, author, and futurist. Called “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes, Kurzweil’s ideas on the future have been touted by his many fans, ranging from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. Inc. Magazine ranked him number eight among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” and PBS included him as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America.” MIT’s Marvin Minsky has said, “with his brilliant descriptions of the coming connections of computers and immortality, Kurzweil clearly takes his place as a leading futurist of our time.”
As one of the leading inventors of our time, Kurzweil was the principal developer of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
Kurzweil is the recipient of the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize, the world's largest for innovation. He has received honors from three US presidents, including Bill Clinton; when in 1999, he received the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor in technology. In addition, Kurzweil was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, established by the US Patent Office and has received nineteen honorary doctorates.
Kurzweil has written five books, four of which have been national bestsellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into nine languages and was the #1 best-selling book on Amazon.com in science. His latest book, The Singularity is Near, was a New York Times bestseller, and has been the #1 best-selling book on Amazon.com in both science and philosophy and has been made into a feature documentary released in late 2008.
Kurzweil is co-founder and chancellor of Singularity University. Launched with the support of NASA, Google and a broad range of technology thought leaders and entrepreneurs, Singularity University aims at preparing the next generation of leaders to address "humanity's grand challenges."
David Suzuki

Current Rank: 5
Statistical Rank: 8783
Direct Contact: davidsuzuki.org
Award-winning scientist, environmentalist, and broadcaster.
Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation
Dr. Suzuki is a geneticist. He graduated from Amherst College (Massachusetts) in 1958 with an Honors BA in Biology, followed by a PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago. He held a research associateship in the Biology Division of Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Lab (1961 – 62), was an Assistant Professor in Genetics at the University of Alberta (1962 – 63), and since then has been a faculty member of the University of British Columbia. He is now Professor Emeritus of The University of British Columbia, Sustainable Development Research Institute.
In 1972, he was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship for the outstanding research scientist in Canada under the age of 35. He has won numerous academic awards and holds 18 honorary degrees in Canada, the US and Australia. A member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada, Dr. Suzuki has written 43 books, including 17 for children. His 1976 textbook An Introduction to Genetic Analysis (with A.J.F. Griffiths), remains the most widely used genetics text book in the US and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indonesian, Arabic, French, and German.
Dr. Suzuki has received consistently high acclaim for his 30 years of award-winning work in broadcasting. In 1974 he developed and hosted the long-running popular science program Quirks and Quarks on CBC Radio. He has since presented two influential documentary CBC radio series on the environment: It’s a Matter of Survival and From Naked Ape to Superspecies. His television career began with CBC in 1971 when he wrote and hosted Suzuki on Science. He then created and hosted a number of television specials, and in 1979 became the host of the award-winning The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. He has won four Gemini Awards as best host of a Canadian television series for The Nature of Things, which he has been with for 26 of the 46 seasons they have been on air. His eight-part television series, A Planet for the Taking, won an award from the United Nations. His eight-part PBS series, The Secret of Life, was praised internationally, as was his five-part series The Brain for the Discovery Channel. On June 10, 2002 he received the John Drainie Award for broadcasting excellence.
Dr. Suzuki is also recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. He is the recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for Science, the United Nations Environment Program Medal and the Global 500. He is a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.
Statistical Rank: 8783
Direct Contact: davidsuzuki.org
Award-winning scientist, environmentalist, and broadcaster.
Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation
Dr. Suzuki is a geneticist. He graduated from Amherst College (Massachusetts) in 1958 with an Honors BA in Biology, followed by a PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago. He held a research associateship in the Biology Division of Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Lab (1961 – 62), was an Assistant Professor in Genetics at the University of Alberta (1962 – 63), and since then has been a faculty member of the University of British Columbia. He is now Professor Emeritus of The University of British Columbia, Sustainable Development Research Institute.
In 1972, he was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship for the outstanding research scientist in Canada under the age of 35. He has won numerous academic awards and holds 18 honorary degrees in Canada, the US and Australia. A member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada, Dr. Suzuki has written 43 books, including 17 for children. His 1976 textbook An Introduction to Genetic Analysis (with A.J.F. Griffiths), remains the most widely used genetics text book in the US and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indonesian, Arabic, French, and German.
Dr. Suzuki has received consistently high acclaim for his 30 years of award-winning work in broadcasting. In 1974 he developed and hosted the long-running popular science program Quirks and Quarks on CBC Radio. He has since presented two influential documentary CBC radio series on the environment: It’s a Matter of Survival and From Naked Ape to Superspecies. His television career began with CBC in 1971 when he wrote and hosted Suzuki on Science. He then created and hosted a number of television specials, and in 1979 became the host of the award-winning The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. He has won four Gemini Awards as best host of a Canadian television series for The Nature of Things, which he has been with for 26 of the 46 seasons they have been on air. His eight-part television series, A Planet for the Taking, won an award from the United Nations. His eight-part PBS series, The Secret of Life, was praised internationally, as was his five-part series The Brain for the Discovery Channel. On June 10, 2002 he received the John Drainie Award for broadcasting excellence.
Dr. Suzuki is also recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. He is the recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for Science, the United Nations Environment Program Medal and the Global 500. He is a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.