Steven Pinker on Psychology, Language & Human Nature

May 16th, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Steven Pinker (Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard) is a remarkable thinker. He is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his nine books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate,…

 

Penn Jillette on Magic, Comedy & Cultural Impact

April 19th, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
For over 40 years Penn & Teller have defied labels—and at times physics and good taste– by redefining the genre of magic and inventing their own very distinct niche in comedy. Penn Jillette is the magician, actor, musician, inventor, television personality, and author who forms half of this incredible and…

 

Nico Rosberg: F1 Champion, Entrepreneur & Green Tech Investor

April 10th, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Formula One (F1) racing is an incredible sport.  Some of the brightest minds in the world of engineering and human performance, equipped with multi-billion-dollar budgets, create staggeringly high-performance cars, run by similarly high-performance teams and drivers.  Nico Rosberg raced in Formula One for eleven years, claiming the title of World…

 

Hamdi Ulukaya: Chobani’s Impact Beyond Business

April 1st, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Hamdi Ulukaya is the founder and CEO of Chobani, one of the fastest growing food companies of the last decade.  The company has annual sales of US$2billion and has become the gold standard for corporate social responsibility.  30% of Chobani’s 2,000 employees were born outside the United States, and several…

 

Chip Wilson on Building lululemon & Athleisure

March 31st, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Chip Wilson is the entrepreneur & philanthropist who is widely credited with the creation of ‘athleisure’ as a retail category (now worth over $400-billion globally).  He is perhaps best known for being the founder of luluemon, the yoga-inspired technical athletic apparel company he started in 1998 which- today- has over…

 

Dr. Mario Capecchi: From Homeless to Nobel laureate

March 30th, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Dr. Mario Capecchi has had a remarkable life. At four-and-a-half years old, during World War II, his mother was sent to Dachau concentration camp leading-eventually- to Mario living as a street child for nearly four years, coming in and out of orphanages and almost dying of malnutrition. From this hugely…

 

The Ethics of Technology: Prof. Martin E. Hellman

March 10th, 2020 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Martin E. Hellman is a remarkable man.  He is perhaps best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle, of public key cryptography- the technology which (amongst other uses) enables secure internet transactions and is used to transfer trillions of dollars each day.   His work has been recognised by numerous…