Celeste Suzanne Baranski is an American electronic engineer, entrepreneur, and executive who helped create several pioneering electronic devices including early versions of the tablet computer. Baranski, with her colleague Alain Rossmann, won the Discover Award from Discover Magazine in 1993.[1][2][3]
Baranski attended Stanford University from 1975 to 1980 and obtained Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering.[4]
Career
Comparison of the EO 440 Personal Communicator (1993) and the Amazon Kindle 2 e-book reader (2009). Both have reflective displays (no backlight). The EO has liquid crystal display, the Kindle an electrophoretic one.
After engineering jobs at ROLM, GRiD Systems, and Tsunami Technologies, Baranski joined GO Corporation in 1987 as one of the founders, and served as Vice President of Engineering. In 1990, the hardware division of GO was divested as EO Inc. and she continued there from 1990 to 1994, producing the EO Personal Communicator, an early tablet computer.[5] The device did not enjoy commercial success so after the collapse of Go/EO, she worked from 1994 to 2006 on mobile devices at Norand Corporation, Hewlett Packard, Set Engineering, Handspring, and Palm.[4]
After taking a sabbatical she founded Vitamin D Video, a machine vision company, in 2007 and served as its chief executive officer until 2010. The company licensed artificial intelligence algorithms from Numenta, a company founded by Jeff Hawkins whom she met at Handspring/Palm.[6][7][8] It was acquired by Sighthound in 2013.[9]
From 2010 to 2014 she was senior vice president, engineering, at Panasas, a data storage company.
In 2014 she joined Hawkins' machine intelligence company, Numenta, as Vice President of Engineering.[10]
↑Friedrich, Nancy (2011-05-18). "Women in Microwaves". Microwaves and RF. Retrieved 2015-04-10. ...Celeste Baranski developed an integrated cellular phone, facsimile (fax), and pen input device in 1993. This device became the basis for many personal digital assistants (PDAs).
↑Gulker, Chris (2010-02-21). "Vitamin D for excellent (computer) vision". InMenlo. Retrieved 2015-04-10. Celeste Baranski, CEO of startup Vitamin D, has an impressive Silicon Valley resumé. The Stanford EE grad has previously headed engineering at Palm and Handspring as well as some very interesting startups, including GO and Grid Systems.
↑Rivlin, Gary (2007-08-05). "In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel Rich". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-04-09. Celeste Baranski, a 49-year-old engineer with a net worth of around $5 million who lives with her husband in Menlo Park, no longer frets about tucking enough money away for college for their two children.
↑"Sighthound Acquires Vitamin D". sighthound.com (Press release). 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2015-04-10. Sighthound Inc., announced today that it has acquired the assets of Vitamin D Video LLC
