Dr. Clifford Stoll

A frequent guest on the YouTube channel Numberphile, Dr. Clifford Stoll is recognizable to a new generation as the man with 1,000 Klein bottles under his house. Stoll drew international attention when he caught a KGB hacker attempting to break into the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory computer system in 1986, one of the first documented hacking incidents in the USA. What followed included legal testimony in Germany, a memoir (The Cuckoo’s Egg), a NOVA documentary, and a sci-fi short story, to name just a few of many results. Stoll has worn many hats in life—astronomer, teacher, author, maker, TED speaker, Klein bottle salesman—but one thing he’s never been is boring. If you see him, ask him about Jupiter.