Eric "Astro" Teller (born 29 May 1970) is a British-American entrepreneur,

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

, and author, with expertise in the field of intelligent technology.

Early life and education

Teller was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, England, and raised in Evanston,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, US. He is the son of Paul Teller, who was an instructor in the philosophy of science at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

and Chantal DeSoto, a buyer and clothing designer for

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

who later became a teacher of

gifted Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, wi ...

children. His grandparents include both French economist and mathematician

Gérard Debreu Gérard Debreu (; 4 July 1921 – 31 December 2004) was a French-born economist and mathematician. Best known as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began work in 1962, he won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize ...

and Hungarian-born American theoretical physicist

Edward Teller Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care fo ...

. He received the nickname "Astro" after high school friends compared his flat-top haircut to

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

, and he reportedly had the image of cartoon dog

Astro Astro may refer to: Entertainment and media * Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band * Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40 * Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band * Astro (Japanese band), ...

from ''

The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced f ...

'' painted on his car door in college. Teller holds a Bachelor of Science in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, Master of Science in

symbolic computation In mathematics and computer science, computer algebra, also called symbolic computation or algebraic computation, is a scientific area that refers to the study and development of algorithms and software for manipulating mathematical expressions ...

(symbolic and

heuristic A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...

computation), also from Stanford, and a PhD in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, where he was a recipient of a Hertz fellowship.

Career

After working as a teacher at Stanford, he became a business executive. Since 2010, Teller has been directing

Google X X Development LLC (formerly Google X) is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010, which now operates as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. X has its headquarters about a mile and a ...

(which has become X) laboratories.Gertner, John
"The Truth About Google X: An Exclusive Look Behind The Secretive Lab's Closed Doors"
''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

'' magazine, May 2014 issue. Projects at Google X include

Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X (previously Google X), with the mission of producing an ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using ...

Google driverless car Waymo LLC, formerly known as the Google self-driving car project, is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. Waymo opera ...

, Google Contact Lens, and

Project Loon Loon LLC was an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary working on providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The company used high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere at an altitude of to to create an aerial wireless network with up to 1 Mbit/s ...

. Google X spun its project called Flux out into a stand-alone business in 2012. Teller gave a

TED Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

at TED2016 on the importance of failure in Google X's approach to pioneering new projects. On 18 October 2016, it was announced that Teller would temporarily be in charge of X's Project Wing while the search for its next permanent leader was underway. In 2017, Teller was honored with an

Edison Achievement Award Edison Awards is an American company that runs an annual competition honoring excellence in innovation in a broad range of categories. Company The Edison Awards were established by the American Marketing Association in 1987 and has been an in ...

for his commitment to innovation throughout his career.

Entrepreneur

Teller was the co-founder and chairman of BodyMedia, makers of the BodyMedia FIT, Bodybugg, and Sensewear armbands (wearable devices that measure sleep, perspiration, motion, and calories burned). He is also co-founder, director, and former CEO of Cerebellum Capital.

Speaker

In May 2001, Teller was featured on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's radio program ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', discussing how the good economy has shaped the attitudes of 30-year-olds towards their jobs. Teller is the co-founder and co-host of the Solve for X annual event and internet community. He has lectured at the

TEDMED TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference. Background , TEDMED staff operates from Stamfor ...

Conference (2003 and 2004),

South By Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

(2013), and ideaCity (2004). In 2008, he appeared as a political commentator on the national French television station

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-M ...

Author

Teller's novel, ''Exegesis'', was published in 1997. It was translated into Dutch, Japanese, Danish, German, Italian, and Greeklish. A second novel, ''Among These Savage Thoughts'', was published in 2006. An experimental novel, it deals with the protagonist's journey to reinvent himself in the imaginary mountain society of Karabas. His third book, ''Sacred Cows'', is a non-fiction work examining society's attitudes about marriage and divorce, co-written with his wife Danielle Teller. It was published by Diversion Books in 2014 and in the same year he gave a TEDxBoston talk on the book.

Personal life

Teller is married to Danielle Teller.

Notes

References

External links

*
Cerebellum Capital
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teller, Astro 1970 births Living people Google employees American computer scientists American computer businesspeople Alphabet Inc. people American technology company founders Artificial intelligence researchers British emigrants to the United States Businesspeople in software Stanford University alumni Businesspeople in information technology Carnegie Mellon University alumni American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent British transhumanists People from Evanston, Illinois People from Cambridge