Nathan Myhrvold: Polymath in the Kitchen (Industry Spotlight) (Interview‪)‬

Retiring from your post as chief strategist and chief technology officer at Microsoft to write a book on modern cuisine might seem a strange career trajectory for anyone other than Nathan Myhrvold. This contemporary Renaissance man has been called many things throughout his fascinating and eclectic life, including James Bond, Leonardo da Vinci, Willy Wonka, Baron Munchausen and Indiana Jones. The truth is, this amateur paleontologist, barbecue champion, award-winning wildlife photographer, inventor of a laser capable of destroying malarial mosquitoes with photons and post-doctoral fellow at Cambridge University who has researched cosmology and quantum field theory in curved space-time alongside Stephen Hawking, is all of these personalities rolled into one. Fortunately for contemporary chefs the world over, Myhrvold, who holds PhDs in theoretical and mathematical physics and a degree from La Varenne cooking school in France, is also obsessed with cooking. In 2000, Myhrvold founded the Washington-based five-billion dollar startup Intellectual Ventures that is today ranked as one of the top 50 research facilities in the world, amassing a portfolio estimated at 27,000 patents. Its laboratory is an inventor's fantasy. Part intellectual salon, part kitchen, it's a gathering place for the world's most affluent and brilliant people. Over the course of the last four years, this captivating group has included some of the culinary world's most influential, talented and innovative chefs. What they have been working on is a seminal work on contemporary cuisine that Ferran Adria has said "will change the way we understand the kitchen."