Scientist · Inventor · Entrepreneur · Author
Alex Bäcker
Scientist to observe the world, inventor to ideate improvement, entrepreneur to bring it to life, author and speaker to bring it to the world.
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02
About
Alex Bäcker, Ph.D. is a scientist, inventor, writer, speaker and entrepreneur. He holds 12 patents and was named among the Top 100 MIT Alumni in Technology in 2021. A National Champion of Informatics who represented his country three times at the International Olympiads of Informatics, Alex holds a degree in Biology and Economics from MIT, and a Master's and Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems and Biology from Caltech.
His research career began at Sandia National Laboratories and Caltech's Beckman Institute and Center for Neuromorphic Systems Engineering, followed by a stint at McKinsey & Co. His interests span bits, brains and genes — from neural coding and cognition to bioinformatics, information retrieval and the mathematics of evolution.
12+
Patents
150M+
Users Served
Top 100
MIT Alumni
6
Continents Reached
A scientist, inventor, writer, speaker and entrepreneur. Scientist to observe the world, inventor to ideate improvement, entrepreneur to bring it to life, author and speaker to bring it to the world.
As a scientist, Alex was the first to point out the role of sunlight in COVID-19 prevention and treatment and the first to provide evidence for the potential role of vitamin D. His preprints have made the Top Ten Lists for dozens of fields and have been cited even before official publication. His papers on neural coding and neural computation have been published in leading journals such as Nature and cited by hundreds of publications. He is in the top 10% of authors on SSRN by all-time downloads.
He has recently pointed out a key omission by Darwin in his theory of evolution via natural selection, and provided the missing link to the puzzle of how random mutations have led to the wonderful beings we call life in a paper that redefines the very meaning of male and female and the raison d'être for sex.
As an author, Alex has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, LA NACION, and more. He is the author of 101 Clues on How to Live a Happy Life, 25 Blunders To Avoid as a Director, and co-author of The EdTech Book.
The invention factory behind QLess and multiple other companies. A laboratory for ideas that transform into companies changing the world.
Eliminated standing in line for 150M+ users across six continents, saving more time than all of recorded history. Featured in the WSJ, NYT, TechCrunch, BBC, Fast Company and NPR. Named Best Medium Computer Software Company in the World.
Doing for vision what Bell's telephone did for speech — giving users global vision. Bringing James Cameron's Avatar vision of telepresence to life, driving orders-of-magnitude efficiencies in the drone industry.
A new kind of dating app using AI to help a billion people find their soulmate.
Combining travel and fitness for adventurous people who never want to stop moving.
04
Science
Top 10% of authors on SSRN by all-time downloads. Published in Nature. Cited by hundreds of publications worldwide.
Who reads temporal information contained across synchronized and oscillatory spike trains?
Nature, 395, 693–698
1998
Optimal Neuronal Tuning for a Finite Stimulus Space
Neural Computation
2006
Estimating manifold dimension by inversion error
20th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing
2005
Pattern recognition in locust early olfactory circuits (PhD Thesis)
Caltech
2002
To sleep, perchance to dream
The Harvard Brain I: 50–55
1994
A Simple Formula to Accurately Subtract Positivity of Cytometric Negative Controls
Flow Cytometry
2001
Mutator Genes and Natural Selection: On Dawkins' Climbing Mount Improbable
Caltech
1999
High temperatures correlate with slower Covid-19 infection growth rates
2020
Sunlight and vitamin D's role in COVID-19 prevention and treatment
2020
Evolving Darwinian Evolution: Haploid Selection Theory and the Selective Advantage of a High Male to Female Mutation Rate Ratio: Testing Mutations Before Spending a Life
2021
Featured
Evolving Darwinian Evolution
A new framework in which selection acts during the haploid phase — sperm and eggs — filtering harmful mutations before they're expressed in offspring.
The Evolutionary Advantage of Humor
Why did laughter evolve? An inquiry into the selective pressures that gave rise to humor as a cognitive and social adaptation.
Mathematics, Language, Poetry and Music: A Continuum
An argument that mathematics, language, poetry, and music are not distinct disciplines but points on a single continuum of structured meaning.
Books
25 Mistakes to Avoid as a Leader
A pocket guide to surviving the executive suite. Forthcoming.
05
Expeditions
& Filmmaking
From driving around the world to giving TEDx talks — Alex documents the human story through film and adventure.
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Speaker
Talks
Speaking Topics
- ◆Invention: From Idea to Patent to Company
- ◆Entrepreneurship: How to Start and Grow a Company
- ◆The Circumdriving Expedition
- ◆Evolution: A New Theory of Sex and Natural Selection
- ◆The Science of COVID-19: Sunlight, Vitamin D and Immunity
- ◆Why We Age and Die — and How to Add Years to Your Life
- ◆The Future of Waiting
- ◆Board of Directors: Blunders You Can't Afford to Make
- ◆The Science of Happiness
Invite Alex to Speak
07
Music
Alex is Jack from the songwriting duo Jack & Hill. Together with supremely gifted singer-songwriter Chel Hill, they crafted rock and pop songs featuring world-class musicians.
Their debut single "Spend A Little Time", which Alex credits primarily to Chel's songwriting genius, features Phil X, the lead guitarist of Bon Jovi, multi-Platinum producer Ron Nevison (Heart, Barbra Streisand, Survivor, Chicago, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Led Zeppelin, Meat Loaf, Europe and The Who), Grammy-winner Jeff Bova (Celine Dion, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, Air Supply, Eric Clapton, Iron Maiden, Michael Jackson, Hall & Oates) on piano and strings, Denny Fongheiser (Tracy Chapman, Counting Crows, Belinda Carlisle, Freddie Mercury, Tom Cochrane, Pavarotti) on drums, and Tony Franklin (Roy Harper, The Firm, Jimmy Page, Eros Ramazotti) on bass. The song was engineered by Chris Kahn (Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Willie Nelson).
Love is a Journey's lyrics and music were written by Alex, then instrumented, recorded and produced by talented producer Hvrbie, who added the no-lyrics chorus, and performed by the inimitable Geordann and Chel Hill.
Most of Jack & Hill's songs remain unreleased.
More recently, Alex has written and recorded several songs by himself — see them at bottom to the right.
Spend A Little Time
Jack & Hill feat. Phil X (of Bon Jovi), Chel Hill, Ron Nevison, Jeff Bova, Denny Fongheiser, Tony Franklin
2023
08
Recognition
Top 100 MIT Alumni in Technology (2021)
IT Executive of the Year — International Business Awards
40 Under 40 — M&A Advisor Recognition Awards
Best Medium Computer Software Company in the World — International Business Awards, Vienna
Best Small Computer Services Company in the USA — 6 consecutive years, American Business Awards
Best Overall Business Services Company of the Year — American Business Awards (2010)
Named one of the Major Trends for 2012 and Beyond by Thomas Frey, Google's top-rated futurist
Clickatell Personalized Priority Messaging Award — SMB Category
NACo Achievement Award & GFOA Award for Excellence in eGovernment
Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Awards — Finalist, Top 15 Most Innovative Companies in LA
Dean's Award at Caltech for Outstanding Qualities of Leadership
National Champion — Argentine National Informatics Olympiad
Three-time representative at the International Olympiads of Informatics
09
Civic Work
Giving back through board service, advocacy, and community building in conservation, entrepreneurship, and equity.
Fixing democracy through better decision-making systems and civic technology. Fair Decision develops tools and frameworks to make collective decisions more equitable, transparent, and evidence-based.
International Founders Association
Founder
Advocating for founder-friendly practices in venture capital, providing resources and community for international entrepreneurs building companies in the US and globally.
10
What People Say
"Alex is a wonderfully creative scientist. He's entirely self-motivated and innately curious. He's a leader by nature and ultimately interested in practical applications of discovery-driven research. Perhaps most importantly, Alex is a joy to work with — if you get the chance to collaborate with Alex, take it!"
Grant Heffelfinger
Director, Physical, Chemical & Nano Sciences
Sandia National Laboratories
"Friendly genius."
Alex Lightman
Author, Entrepreneur & Futurist
First Economist Reader's Award winner; former CTO, UN Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization
"This is absolutely fascinating. I love it. I've talked a lot about drones in the past but this is taking it to a new level. I think this has massive potential."
Thomas Frey
Google's Top-Rated Futurist
IBM's Most Award-Winning Engineer; Dean of Futurists — on Drisit
"This changes everything. It is that cool."
CEO
Real Estate Consortia
on Drisit
"Wow. Very few times I am speechless. I am blown away. It's really something. I am so impressed with the technology, really want to find a way to partner. The data sets are incredibly useful and powerful for what we're doing. What you produced is just amazing."
President
Incenter Agency Solutions
on Drisit
"An honor that was previously accorded a Nobel Prize winner, the CEO of Cisco, the CEO of Adobe, the Chairman of Deloitte, and an astronaut."
IT Executive of the Year
International Business Awards — on Alex Bäcker
Philanthropy
Giving Back
Making a difference in individual lives, one person at a time.
Wherever his expedition takes him, Dr. Bäcker looks for one person he can help in a concrete way — a scholarship, a car recovered, a meal, a medical bill, an invention, entrepreneurship coaching. Not a program. Not a foundation. A person.
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Contact
Interested in collaborating, speaking engagements, or just want to connect?