Tyson Mao (born May 8, 1984, in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

) is an American Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is a co-founder and a former board member of the

World Cube Association The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as '' twisty puzzles'' (a subcategory of combin ...

, an organization that holds competitive events for the Rubik's Cube. In 2005, he set the world record for 3x3x3 blindfolded. In 2006, he appeared on the CW Television Network's ''

Beauty and the Geek ''Beauty and the Geek'' is an American reality television series that premiered on The WB on June 1, 2005. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced by Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg and J.D. Roth. The show's ti ...

'' as one of the participants of the second incarnation of the reality television show.

Personal

Tyson Mao was born in San Francisco to immigrant parents from

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and previously used to work as a Poker Product Manager for Zynga. Mao graduated from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 2006 with a degree in astrophysics. His father is a doctor based in South San Francisco. In 2017, Mao opened the Wursthall Restaurant & Bierhaus in San Mateo,

with partners Adam Simpson and J. Kenji López-Alt.

Rubik's Cube

Tyson began solving the cube during the Rubik's Cube's second boom in 2003, first using a beginner's method, then the Petrus and Fridrich methods. Tyson is credited for popularizing the "Caltech move" for solving the three diagonal corner permutation in blindfold solving.

Competition Organizer

Tyson has been the main organizer of major U.S competitions, including all US Nationals up to 2013, as well as many Caltech competitions.

Tyson Mao's beginner method

Tyson Mao's unofficial beginner method is a set of 8 videos which can be viewed a
Rubiks.com
This method is most famous for being used by

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

in a past film ''

The Pursuit of Happyness ''The Pursuit of Happyness'' is a 2006 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a homeless salesman. Smith's son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as Gardner's son, Chri ...

'', that was released in 2006. The method is basically a simplified layer-by-layer approach which works much the same way as the Fridrich method. The difference is that the cross is first built around the opposite side to simplify the permutation foresight required, the first two layers are permuted individually, the last layer requires an algorithm to construct a cross, and then repetition of Lars Petrus' Sune algorithm to orient, and finally permutation requires the use of two algorithms, one for the corners and one for the edges. These algorithms may have to be executed multiple times.

Media appearances

*''

'' Season 2 *CNN's ''

Anderson Cooper 360° ''Anderson Cooper 360°'' (commonly shortened to either ''AC-360'' or ''360'') is an American television news show on CNN and CNN International, hosted by CNN journalist and news anchor Anderson Cooper. Since May 20, 2019, ''360°'' has been b ...

'' (Air date: December 15, 2006) *'' Identity'' *''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'' (Air date: January 27, 2006) *''

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

'' *

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

: Show Us Your Character *'' Good Morning America'' (Air date: February 4, 2008)

References

External links

*
Brothers square off in cubing contest, San Francisco Chronicle
*
Tyson's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mao, Tyson 1984 births American people of Chinese descent American people of Taiwanese descent American speedcubers California Institute of Technology alumni Living people Participants in American reality television series People from San Francisco