70. Ren Ng

In the seconds after Ren Ng took this photo of a friend’s daughter, he wondered, Do pictures have to be focused before you take the shot? Pursuing that question reframed his life.

Back in July 2006, Ng wrote a groundbreaking, 187-page dissertation that explored a then-theoretical notion that a camera sensor could capture all light traveling in every direction, allowing a photograph to be refocused after the snap. This February, he transformed theory into a shutterbug sensation: Lytro, his rectangular spyglasslike camera, enables users to capture a picture from virtually all depths and lenses with just one click.

Timeline

• 2001

  Earns B.S. at Stanford, followed by an M.S. in 2002 and his PhD in 2006

• 2004

  Builds prototype for his dissertation

• 2006

  Completes 187-page dissertation; founds Lytro

• 2011

  Raises $50 million for Lytro

• 2012

  Launches the Lytro camera

FCS