CHRIS OLAH

Thiel Fellow,
Inventor and Hacker , hacklab.to
Chris Olah is a 2012 Thiel Fellow with a self-confessed obsession for mathematics and 3D printing. These passions cross over at hacklab.to, a space where soft- and hardware hackers share, develop and collaborate on new projects. Chris contributes to hacklab as a 3D enthusiast, member and director of the organization.

Hacking education was a necessity for Chris. By the end of grade nine, he had read all of the grade 12 science textbooks and by the end of the following year, he was participating in a mentorship program at the University of Toronto, writing ecological modeling software to predict the outcomes of using renewable resources such as solar energy and spending his spare time auditing courses.

By 2030 he hopes to see many things change. He hopes that gifted students will be empowered to seek out quality learning environments. He also hopes that genuine math education will replace memorization, and that programming will be realized as something as essential as literacy.

His advice? “You are capable of learning and doing remarkable things right now.”