Jim Clark received a Master of Science degree in Physics form Louisiana State University in New Orleans in 1971. As a Physics graduate student, he received the Annual Gold Medal award from the Research Society of America in 1971. He received a Ph. D. in Computer Science in 1974 from the University of Utah. His Ph. D. thesis work concentrated on building special purpose hardware for 3-D graphics, headmounted displays, three dimensional input devices and interactive techniques in 3-D. His thesis was the first implementation of what is today known as "Virtual Reality". He received an honorary degree, Doctor of Science in June 1995, form the University of Utah.
He taught as an Assistant Professor at University of California from 1974 -78 and as an Associate Professor at Stanford University form 1979 - 1982.
He founded Silicon Graphics in 1981 and served as Chairman of the Board. His goal in starting Silicon Graphics was to make 3-D graphical computer systems that were as inexpensive and realistic as possible but were always capable drawing pictures interactively and in real-time. The initial technology to achieve this was the "Geometry Engine", which he patented at Stanford in 1981. He also invented the Graphics Library (GL), which is the graphics interface language used to program SGI's computers.
For the first six years of the company's history, Jim served as the Chief Technical Officer. He was instrumental in convincing Silicon Graphics to pursue affordable desk-top computers such as Personal Iris and the Indigo. In 1988, he pressed the company to embrace "multi-media" technology, integrating audio and video in to the company's product line. In recent years, he has been outspoken about the convergence of the consumer electronics and computer industries through shared technology in the form of a Telecomputer. He forged the deals with Time-Warner and Nintendo to pursue this convergence.
Clark left Silicon Graphics in March 1994 to undertake a new venture in Internet-based commercial and consumer software applications, with the team of young programmers who wrote the widely-used Internet software tool "Mosaic" at the University of Illinois. The new company, Netscape Communications Corp., is now underway in Mountain View, California.
Clark has lectured extensively at universities and conferences worldwide, sharing his experience and insight in technology leadership and business development.
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