Jaron Zepel Lanier

Pioneer of virtual reality, Lanier led the team in the late 1980s that developed the first implementations of multi-person virtual worlds using head-mounted displays. In mid-1997, he became a founding member of the National Tele-Immersion Initiative, an effort devoted to utilizing computer technology to give people who were separated by great distances the illusion that they were physically together. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Chief Scientist of Advanced Network and Services, which contained the Engineering Office of Internet2, and as the Lead Scientist of the National Tele-Immersion Initiative.