Thomas A. Furness III is an American inventor, professor, and virtual reality pioneer based in Seattle, Washington. He is a Professor in the
University of Washington Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and the founder of the
Human Interface Technology Lab at the University of Washington and its sister labs at the
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...
(
HIT Lab NZ
The Human Interface Technology Lab NZ (HIT Lab NZ) ( mi, Hangarau Tangata, Tangata Hangarau ) is a research centre in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand. Primarily the research undertak ...
) and
University of Tasmania. Known for his contributions in developing human interface technology, he has earned the title, "Grandfather of Virtual Reality."
Furness recently received the first-ever lifetime achievement award for his 50 years service in the field of
virtual reality and
augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...
from the
Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California. In 2018, Furness was elected a fellow of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...
.
In addition to being a professor at the
University of Washington, he is also the general manager and owner of the RATLab (Rocking and Thinking Laboratory), an engineering research and development company.
Early life
Born in
Canton, North Carolina, on April 19, 1943, to Margaret Nash Furness and Thomas A. Furness Jr., Furness was the older of two boys. At a young age, Furness was driven, brilliant, and curious about technology. He spent much of his childhood disassembling and building electronics in a lab he built in the basement of his parents’ home. He won the state science fair as a teen, and graduated from Enka High School in 1961. Upon graduation, Furness went on to attend
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, where he received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering.
Career
He was commissioned in the Air Force and sent to
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in
Dayton, Ohio, from September 1966 to 1989. During this time, he developed advanced cockpits for fighter aircraft. It was also during this time that Furness completed his PhD at the
University of Southampton in England (1977–79). Furness arrived at the
University of Washington in the fall of 1989 and founded the
Human Interface Technology Lab (HITLab).
Personal life
In 1965, Furness married his high school sweetheart Linda Pearce, and the two had 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furness, Thomas
1943 births
Living people
21st-century American inventors
Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni
University of Washington faculty
Virtual reality pioneers