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Randall Munroe

Randall Munroe
XkcdMunroe.jpg
Born Randall Patrick Munroe
(1984-10-17) October 17, 1984 (age 32)
Easton, Pennsylvania, USA
Nationality American
Area(s) Pen and pencil
Webcomics, Physics
Notable works
xkcd, Robot9000, What If?, Thing Explainer
Signature
http://www.xkcd.com

Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is an American cartoonist, author, and the creator of the webcomic xkcd. He and the webcomic have developed a cult following, and after leaving NASA, he became a professional webcomic artist.

Munroe was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, the son of an engineer. He has two younger brothers, and was raised as a Quaker. He was a fan of the funny pages in newspapers from an early age, starting off with Calvin and Hobbes. After graduating from the Chesterfield County Mathematics and Science High School at Clover Hill, a Renaissance Program, he graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2006 with a degree in physics.

Munroe worked as a contract programmer and roboticist for NASA at the Langley Research Center before and after his graduation. In October 2006 NASA did not renew his contract and he moved to Boston to begin writing xkcd full-time.

xkcd is primarily a stick figure comic with themes in computer science, technology, mathematics, science, philosophy, language, pop culture and romance.

Munroe had originally used xkcd as an instant messaging screenname because he wanted a name without a meaning so he would not eventually grow tired of it. He registered the domain name, but left it idle until he started posting his drawings in September 2005. The webcomic quickly became very popular, garnering up to 70 million hits a month by October 2007. Munroe has said, "I think the comic that's gotten me the most feedback is actually the one about the stoplights".

Munroe now supports himself by the sale of xkcd-related merchandise, primarily thousands of t-shirts a month. He licenses his xkcd creations under the Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial 2.5, stating that it is not just about the free culture movement, but that it also makes good business sense.


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