Sebastian Thrun
| Sebastian Thrun | |
|---|---|
Sebastian Thrun at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2013
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| Born |
May 14, 1967 Solingen, West Germany |
| Residence | U.S. |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Driverless cars, robotics and Artificial Intelligence |
| Institutions |
Google X Lab (founder) Stanford University Carnegie Mellon University Udacity (co-founder) |
| Alma mater |
University of Bonn University of Hildesheim |
| Thesis | Explanation-Based Neural Network Learning: A Lifelong Learning Approach (1995) |
| Doctoral advisor |
Armin B. Cremers Tom Mitchell |
| Doctoral students |
Frank Dellaert John Langford David Stavens |
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Sebastian Thrun (born May 14, 1967) is an innovator, entrepreneur educator, and computer scientist from Germany. He is the chairman and co-founder of Udacity. Before that, he was a Google VP and Fellow, a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, and before that at Carnegie Mellon University. At Google, he founded Google X. He is currently also an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and at Georgia Tech.
Thrun led development of the robotic vehicle Stanley which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, and which has since been placed on exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. His team also developed a vehicle called Junior, which placed second at the DARPA Grand Challenge (2007). Thrun led the development of the Google self-driving car.
Thrun is also known for his work on probabilistic algorithms for robotics with applications including robotic mapping. In recognition of his contributions, and at age 39, Thrun was elected into the National Academy of Engineering and also into the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2007. In 2011, Thrun received the Max-Planck-Research Award. and the inaugural AAAI Ed Feigenbaum Prize. Fast Company selected Thrun as the fifth most creative person in the business world.The Guardian recognized Thrun as one of 20 "fighters for internet freedom".
Thrun was born in 1967 in Solingen, Germany (then West Germany), the son of Winfried and Kristin (Grüner) Thrun. He completed his Vordiplom (intermediate examination) in computer science, economics, and medicine at the University of Hildesheim in 1988. At the University of Bonn, he completed a Diplom (first degree) in 1993 and a PhD (summa cum laude) in 1995 in computer science and statistics.
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