Discover TED’s
remarkable speakers

Dr. Erika Hamden is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona. Her current projects include FIREBall, a UV balloon-borne telescope; KCRM, a spectrograph for the Keck telescope; and Hyperion, a UV space telescope she is currently developing. However, these amazing innovations did not come without a lot of trial and error.

Failure can happen to anyone — not just to the people creating space telescopes. A presentation flops, a start-up has a bumpy launch, a new initiative hits some roadblocks. This can be a huge blow and can often prevent teams from trying again. But Hamden suggests taking a cue from the scientific method, which regards failure as an important —and necessary—step towards achieving progress.

“The whole premise of science is to prove that your hypothesis is wrong,” she says. “Discovery is mostly a process of finding things that don’t work, and failure is inevitable when you’re pushing the limits of knowledge.” She shares valuable advice for bouncing back, whether you’re pushing the bounds of outer space or hunkered down in a home office.

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Fariel Salahuddin is the founder and CEO of UpTrade (Goats for Water), a social enterprise that is empowering smallholder livestock farmers globally to use their livestock as currency to purchase otherwise expensive solar water pumps and solar home lighting systems. Goats for Water has received international acclaim for its innovation and Salahuddin has been featured as part of the BBC’s People Fixing the World program and in Inc. Magazine. Prior to starting Goats for Water, Salahuddin was an energy economist advising governments  and private organizations on energy policy and projects.  She's  passionate about bringing change to underserved populations through entrepreneurial endeavors.

Frank Warren is the creator of the PostSecret Project, a collection of highly personal postcards mailed anonymously from around the world. They display soulful secrets we never voice—from shocking to romantic, from tragic to laugh-out-loud funny. The postcards continue to arrive, and today number over 1 million! They have been published in six best-selling books and on the award-winning PostSecret blog. Frank's multimedia live events reveal the stories behind the secrets, what he has learned as “America's most trusted stranger,” and how sharing our stories deepens relationships and transforms lives.

Gabrielle Walker is a passionate advocate for climate action, working with businesses, NGOs, governments and philanthropy. She founded Valence Solutions to tackle the most difficult climate challenges, and advises global leaders across multiple industries on achieving faster climate impact. Walker was climate editor at Nature and features editor at New Scientist, has written countless magazine and newspaper articles, broadcast many programs for the BBC and has authored four books, including co-authoring the bestselling book The Hot Topic: How to Tackle Global Warming and Still Keep the Lights On. She's also an accomplished moderator for high-level debates and panels involving CEOs, former heads of state, government ministers and humanitarian leaders. She has a PhD from Cambridge University and has taught at both Cambridge and Princeton.

Gay Gordon-Byrne fights for your right to repair the things you buy, even if those things happen to contain a computer chip. After a 40-year career in enterprise computing, Gordon-Byrne helped found the Digital Right to Repair Coalition and serves as its executive director advocating for repair-friendly legislation, regulations and standards. Buying “new” contributes to raw environmental damage, throwing away clogs waste and recycling systems, and going without is a key reason we have a digital divide. The answer? Make it easier for people across more industries to repair, resell, reuse, remanufacture and recycle technology-enabled products.

Georgette Bennett works to counter hate and improve human rights. A sociologist and criminologist now specializing in conflict resolution, Bennett founded the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, a secular nonprofit that works to combat religious prejudice, confront hate and build respect for religious difference. In 2013, she founded the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees, which has delivered millions of dollars in aid to Syrian war victims. She also co-founded the nonprofit Global Covenant Partners, which aims to delegitimize the use of religion to justify violence and extremism. Bennett served in the US State Department's Religion and Foreign Policy working group on conflict mitigation and has done pioneering work on community policing with the New York Police Department, successfully lobbying for the establishment of the first sex crimes unit.

A winner of the AARP Purpose Prize and named to the 2021 Forbes "50 Over 50 Women of Impact" list, Bennett is the author of Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By: How One Woman Confronted the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of Our Time (2021). Her newest book, Religicide: Confronting the Roots of Anti-Religious Violence (co-authored with Nobel Peace Prize Co-recipient Jerry White) was released in November 2022. Bennett takes any opportunity to make the world a better place and she shares what she's learned with groups worldwide who also want to make a difference.

Neuroscientist and engineer Greg Gage is passionate about helping people understand how our brains and our neurons work, and his company, Backyard Brains, is dedicated to inspiring kids to want to learn more. Prior to becoming a neuroscientist, Gage worked as an electrical engineer. He saw that scientific equipment was unnecessarily expensive and that people could create gadgets with simple objects at home and in school. His interactive and engaging talks give audiences fresh and fun insight into the mystery—and miracle— that is our brain. His book, How Your Brain Works: Neuroscience Experiments for Everyone, is due out October 2022.

Guy Winch asks us to take our emotional health as seriously as we take our physical health. As a licensed psychologist, he’s spent the last two decades developing tools people can use to enhance and maintain their mental health. A blogger on PsychologyToday.com, he also hosts Dear Guy on TED’s Ideas Blog and co-hosts the Dear Therapists podcast. His books have been translated into 28 languages. For those grappling with personal issues or stress and emotional health in the workplace, Guy’s practical “emotional tool kit” comes with humor and compassion.

Ian Kerner is a licensed psychotherapist, nationally recognized sexuality counselor and best-selling author and CNN contributor. He specializes in sex therapy, couples therapy and a range of relational issues that often lead to distress. Failure to launch, or the inability to build and maintain sexual momentum, is a common theme. Kerner reminds us that after several years of a pandemic (in our pajamas), if we’re not feeling super sexy, there’s nothing wrong with our libidos — we just need to try some new strategies to get the sparks flying.

James Hodge is a leading data strategist who is the chief strategy advisor at Splunk, a software company focused on helping organizations use data more effectively. Fascinated by the possibilities inherent in data and technology, he believes that when technological tools are intuitive to use, innovation will follow.

Hodge is also passionate about data ethics and runs an internal group at Splunk dedicated to supporting efforts in this space. He’s also a startup advisor, helping founders use data to remain competitive.

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Environmentalist Jamie C. Beard is founder and executive director of the Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) at UT Austin, a US Department of Energy–funded program that recruits oil and gas talent to launch geothermal startups. She believes geothermal energy is the natural and obvious future business model for the oil and gas industry, and as a passionate advocate and mentor, has been credited with catalyzing a wave of recent investment and recruitment in the geothermal industry.

A New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of children’s books and graphic novels, Jarrett Krosoczka creates stories with humor, heart and deep respect for young readers. To inspire them beyond the page, Krosoczka founded School Lunch Hero Day, a national campaign that celebrates school lunch staff. He also established the Joseph and Shirley Krosoczka Memorial Youth Scholarships, which fund art classes for underprivileged children. He believes in the power and importance of storytelling, and shows how stories keep people alive and help us remember, share and process the human experience.