Richard Saul Wurman

Wurman was born in Philadelphia on March 26, 1935. He received both his B.Arch. and M.Arch. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, completing his graduate degree with honors in 1959. ==Career==

After graduating, Wurman practiced architecture for 13 years including working for Louis Kahn in 1960–1961, Charles and Ray Eames, and independently. In 1962, he took a teaching position at North Carolina State University's School of Design. Wurman chaired the IDCA Conference in 1972, the First Federal Design assembly in 1973, and the annual American Institute of Architects (AIA) conference in 1976. Wurman is the founder of TED conferences which later became TED Talks. He created and chaired the TED conferences from their creation in 1984 through 2002, TEDMED from 1995 through 2010, the EG conference, He sold the rights to TED in 2001 to the Sapling Foundation He works with Esri and RadicalMedia on comparative cartographic initiatives for mapping urban settings, which is planned to culminate in the creation of a network of live urban observatories around the world. Wurman supports SENS Research Foundation, a nonprofit biotechnology organization that seeks to repair the damages of aging and extend healthy lifespan. He taught at University of Cambridge, North Carolina State University and Princeton. ==Publications==

Wurman has written, designed, and published nearly a hundred books on varying topics, Understanding USA (1999), Information Anxiety (1989) and its second edition, Information Anxiety 2 (2000). Wurman is credited with inventing the term "information architecture". ==Awards==

Wurman was awarded the Arthur Spayed Brooks Gold Medal, several honorary doctorates, a Graham fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, numerous federal National Endowment for the Arts grants, and has served as a distinguished professor at Northeastern University. He is a recipient of the 2019 National Design Award in Lifetime Achievement category from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, an Annual Gold Medal from Trinity College, Dublin, 2004 Gold Medal from AIGA, and Boston Science Museum's 50th Annual Bradford Washburn Award in 2014. He is also an American Institute of Architects fellow and member of the Art Directors Club of New York Hall of Fame. ==Personal life==

Wurman lives on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island and in Golden Beach, Florida, after having previously lived in Manhattan in New York City. == References ==