Christopher Weaver

Overview

Christopher Weaver

birth name	Christopher Scot Weaver
birth date	February 6, 1951‡R1R‡
birth place	New York City, US‡R1R‡
education	Dual Master's degrees (Japanese and Computer Science) and a dual CAS (doctoral) degree in Japanese and Physics
alma mater	Wesleyan University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
occupation	Software and technology innovator, Entrepreneur, Educator at MIT
organization	Bethesda Softworks
known for	Founder of Bethesda Softworks and cofounder of ZeniMax Media
notable works	One of the creators of The Elder Scrolls series

Christopher Scot Weaver (born February 6, 1951) is an American entrepreneur, software developer, scientist, author, and educator. He is known for founding Bethesda Softworks, where he was one of the creators of The Elder Scrolls role-playing series.[2][3]

Weaver and Bethesda are credited with developing the first real-time physics engine for sports simulation, used in Bethesda's Gridiron! video game.[4] Weaver also developed game screen captioning for the deaf and made it available as open source software.[5]

Career

At Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Current

As of 2016, Weaver has been pursuing a career in academia, in which he teaches computational media in the College of Integrative Sciences at Wesleyan University.[9] He also teaches in the Comparative Media Studies and Engineering departments at MIT.[10] He is a Fellow of the Futures of Entertainment Consortium; a Board Member of the Communications Technology Roadmap Group and a visiting scientist in the Microphotonics Center.[3] Recently, he was asked to co-direct a new Center at MIT, which will use the science and epistemology of game tools to enhance STEM education for children of multiple age groups.

Weaver continues to serve on committees for various national and international organizations. Some of his past and present appointments include:

In 2016, as part of the MIT educational contingent, he became Director of Interactive Simulation for the AIM Photonics Academy.[11]

He has acted as technical advisor to various governments and organizations, including the White House, Office of Technology Policy, Congressional Committee of House Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. Weaver has been a technical advisor to numerous films including Independence Day, where writer/producer Dean Devlin used Weaver as the basis for the film character David Levinson (played by Jeff Goldblum) and on the science fiction film, Geostorm.[3][12]

In 2005, Weaver was inducted into the Cosmos Club for excellence in Engineering.[13]

In 2016, Weaver was appointed a Distinguished Research Scholar by the Smithsonian Institution[14] and installed as the first Project Director of the newly created Video Game Pioneers Archive within the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.[15]

American Association for the Advancement of Science

National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Engineering

National Research Council

International Game Developers Association

Cable Telecommunications Research Institute

Society of Cable Television Engineers

Aspen Institute

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Christopher Weaver

Career

Current

Publications

Personal life

References