TED Unveils TED2011 Speakers Program

NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, announces today its speaker line-up for TED2011, the organization's flagship conference.  This year's program includes a range of explorers, storytellers, photographers, scientific pioneers, visionaries and provocateurs from all parts of the globe -- and for the first time, features sessions curated by innovators Bill Gates and Juan Enriquez.  Themed "The Rediscovery of Wonder," TED2011 will take place from February 28 through March 4 in Long Beach, CA.

"For 2011, we've assembled a cast of characters capable of stirring the imagination as never before," says TED Curator Chris Anderson.  "With the help of innovative guest curators, we've assembled a program that will awe attendees and remote audiences alike.  And we won't be forgetting the other, harder-edged meaning of wonder -- where "I wonder" equals "I ponder." We'll be adding in strong servings of thoughtful insight, so that the possibilities we dream of are anchored in reality."

The TED2011 speakers program:

Session 1: Monumental

Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, Puppeteers

David Brooks, Columnist

Indra Nooyi, Chair and CEO, PepsiCo

Eric Whitacre, Composer, Conductor

Session 2: Majestic

Paul Nicklen, Polar photographer

Sarah Marquis, Explorer 

Bobby McFerrin, Musician

Session 3: Mindblowing

Carlo Ratti, Architect and Engineer

Aaron Koblin, Data artist

Homaro Cantu, Chef

Antony Hegarty, Musician, Visual artist

Session 4: Worlds Imagined

Morgan Spurlock, Filmmaker

Beatrice Coron, Papercutter artist

Julie Taymor, Director, Designer

Session 5: Deep Mystery 

Deb Roy, Cognitive scientist

Felisa Wolfe-Simon, Geobiochemist

Antonio Damasio Neuroscientist

Maya Beiser, Cellist

Session 6: Knowledge Revolution - Curated and hosted by Bill Gates

David Christian, Historian

Amina Ibrahim, Educator

Salman Khan, Educator

Bruce Aylward, Epidemiologist

Session 7: Radical Collaboration

Edith Widder, Biologist, Conservationist

JR, Street artist

Session 8: Invention & Consequence

Edward Tenner, Historian of technology and culture

Dennis Hong, Roboticist

Bill Ford, Executive chair, Ford Motor Co.

Session 9: Threads of Discovery - Curated and hosted by Juan Enriquez

Ed Boyden, Neuroengineer

Fiorenzo Omenetto, Biomedical engineer

Janet Echelman, Artist

Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Energy expert

Anthony Atala, Surgeon

George Daley, Hematologist

Session 10: Tales of Enchantment

Shea Hembrey, Artist and curator

Sarah Kay, Poet

Sunni Brown, Visualizer and gamestorming

Kate Hartman, Artist and technologist

Jason Mraz, Musician

Session 11: The Echo of Time

Jack Horner, Dinosaur digger

Rajesh Rao, Computational neuroscientist

Harvey Fineberg, Health policy expert

Stanley McChrystal, Military leader

Session 12: Only if. If only.

Kathryn Schulz, Wrongologist

John Hunter, Educator

Roger Ebert, Film critic and blogger

The complete list of speakers can be found online here.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Long Beach, California, along with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED

Contact: Margaret Sullivan, [email protected], +1 (646) 833-0205

SOURCE TED

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED