Austin Russell (entrepreneur)

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This article is about an American entrepreneur and businessman. For the other person with the same name that is a reality television personality, see Chumlee.
Austin Russell
Russell in 2018
Russell in 2018
Born1994–1995 (aged 27) [1]
EducationStanford University (dropped out)
Known forYoungest self-made[1] billionaire and founder and CEO of Luminar Technologies

Austin Russell is an American entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Luminar Technologies.[2] Luminar specializes in lidar and machine perception technologies, mainly used in autonomous cars. Luminar went public in December 2020, making him the world's youngest self-made billionaire.[3]

Early life and education[]

A child prodigy, Russell had memorized the periodic table of elements at age two. At age 13, Russell applied for his first patent for a ground water recycling system to reuse water from sprinklers.[4]

He spent the latter part of his teenage years at the University of California at Irvine Beckman laser institute before enrolling in Stanford University. Despite this, he has claimed to have gained most of the knowledge through YouTube and Wikipedia.[4] While attending the university in 2012, he was awarded $100,000 from the Thiel Fellowship, leading him to found Luminar and ultimately drop out of the university.[4]

Philanthropy[]

On January 1, 2022, Russell donated $4 million to Team Seas, allowing the fundraiser to reach its goal of $30 million raised.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Austin Russell". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  2. ^ "How The World's Youngest Self-Made Billionaire Built His Fortune". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  3. ^ "Austin Russell". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  4. ^ a b c "World's Youngest Billionaire, 26-Year-Old Owes It All To Wikipedia & YouTube". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 2021-04-08. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  5. ^ Singh, Vitasta (2 January 2022). "MrBeast's TeamSeas Reaches Its 30 Million Target Thanks to a Surprise Benefactor". EssentiallySports. Full Spectrum Services LLP. Retrieved 6 January 2022.


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