Hanrahan grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and received a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1985. In the 1980s, he worked at the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Laboratory and Digital Equipment Corporation. Is currently a computer graphics researcher, the Canon USA Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Stanford University. His research focuses on rendering algorithms, graphics processing units, as well as scientific illustration and visualization. As a founding employee at Pixar Animation Studios from 1986 to 1989, Hanrahan was part of the design of the RenderMan Interface Specification and the RenderMan Shading Language. He was credited in Pixar productions, including The Magic Egg (1984), Tin Toy …
