Past Member

Nicholas Negroponte

Former Founding Director; Former Professor Post-Tenure of Media Arts and Sciences - Retired
  • Chairman's Office

Nicholas Negroponte co-founded the MIT Media Lab with Jerome B. Wiesner in 1985, and served as its first director. A graduate of MIT, Negroponte joined the faculty in 1966 and was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design. He gave the first TED talk in 1984, as well as 13 since then. He is the author of the 1995 bestseller Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages. 

In 2005, Negroponte founded the non-profit One Laptop per Child, which deployed $1 billion worth of laptops for primary education in the developing world. In the private sector, he served on the board of directors of Motorola for 15 years and was general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has personally provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Zagats and WIRED magazine.

Negroponte retired from MIT on January 1, 2020.