16. Stephen Wolfram - Inevitable, Beautiful Connections

Stephen Wolfram is a scientist, physicist, and businessman best known for his work in computer science, mathematics, and theoretical physics.

Over more than four decades, Wolfram has been a pioneer in the development and application of computational thinking—and has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Based on both his practical and theoretical thinking, Wolfram has emerged as an authority on the implications of computation and artificial intelligence for society and the future, and the importance of computational language as a bridge between the capabilities of computation and human objectives.

He is the creator of Mathematica, the creator of Wolfram|Alpha, and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. He is the author of Cellular Automata And Complexity, Adventures of a Computational Explorer, The Mathematica Book, How to Teach Computational Thinking, On the Quest for Computable Knowledge, A New Kind of Science, An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language, and most recently, Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People.