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About Henrik
Henrik Wann Jensen is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. A leading figure in Computer Science, he specializes in computer graphics, focusing on realistic image synthesis, global illumination, photon mapping, subsurface scattering, and appearance modeling. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technical University of Denmark in 1996, with his dissertation "The Photon Map in Global Illumination." His academic career includes positions as research associate at Stanford University (1999-2002), postdoctoral researcher at MIT's graphics group, and research scientist in visual effects software development (1996-1998). Joining UCSD in July 2002, he founded the computer graphics research group and became full professor before retiring in 2018 as Professor Emeritus. Since 2019, he has been Honorary Professor at Aarhus University. Jensen is also Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Luxion, creators of KeyShot, and Co-founder of KeyShot Studios.
One of Jensen's seminal contributions is the photon mapping algorithm, which simulates global illumination effects like caustics, diffuse inter-reflections, and participating media in complex 3D scenes, widely used in architecture, design, and film visual effects. He pioneered methods for rendering translucent materials—such as snow, marble, milk, and human skin—using mathematical models of subsurface light transport, enabling photorealistic digital humans. These techniques featured in films including Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Dobby in Harry Potter, Nemo in Finding Nemo, Na'vi skin in Avatar, and hair in Tangled. His influential book, Realistic Image Synthesis Using Photon Mapping (AK Peters, 2001), elucidates photon mapping. Notable papers include "A Practical Model for Subsurface Light Transport" (SIGGRAPH 2001, with Marschner, Levoy, Hanrahan) and "Stochastic Progressive Photon Mapping" (SIGGRAPH Asia 2009, with Hachisuka). Awards include the Academy Award for Technical Achievement for translucent rendering research, a Sloan Fellowship, and recognition as one of Popular Science's top 10 scientists. His technologies power commercial tools like KeyShot, adopted by Ford for virtual prototyping, and Velux Daylight Visualizer, the first CIE-verified rendering engine for daylight simulation.
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