Loren Carpenter

Carpenter is a computer graphics researcher and developer. He was a co-founder and chief scientist of Pixar Animation Studios, the co-inventor of the Reyes rendering algorithm and is one of the authors of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan software which implements Reyes and renders all of Pixar's movies. Following Disney's acquisition of Pixar, Carpenter became a Senior Research Scientist at Disney Research. In 1967 Carpenter began work at Boeing Computer Services (a part of aircraft maker Boeing) in Seattle, Washington. During his time there, Carpenter studied for a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Washington. Some of his work concerned using computer technology to improve Boeing's mechanical design processes, which were still entirely done by hand on paper. On July 14, 1980 he gave a presentation at the SIGGRAPH conference, in which he showed "Vol Libre", a 2-minute computer generated movie. This showcased his software for generating and rendering fractally generated landscapes, and was met with a standing ovation, and (as Carpenter had hoped) he was immediately invited to work at Lucasfilm's Computer Division (which would become Pixar). While there, Carpenter worked on the "genesis effect" scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which featured an entire fractally-landscaped planet. In 2001, he and two colleagues were awarded the only Oscar statuettes ever given for computer science. In 2014, he transitioned from his position as Senior Research Scientist in Disney/Pixar's research division to that of a Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. At IONS, he is involved primarily with experiment design and construction, using his extensive fabrication, computer and electronics skills. His contributions include new instruments for recording and analyzing quantum background noise and instruments for sensing and amplifying mind-photon interaction.