Jelani Nelson designs clever algorithms that only have to remember slivers of massive data sets. He also teaches kids in Ethiopia how to code.
About the author
Allison Whitten is a cognitive neuroscientist and science writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2020, she was an AAAS Mass Media fellow at Discover magazine. She spent 10 years studying neuroscience and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.