Nadia Magnenat Thalmann is a computer graphics scientist and robotician and is the founder and head of MIRALab at the University of Geneva.

[3] Thalmann has made numerous research contributions in the general area of computer graphics and is best known for her work on simulating realistic virtual humans.

She also made early contributions in computer graphics during her PhD by simulating and visualizing 3D electronic densities of the Schrödinger equation's approximate solutions (1977).

[4][5] Later on, she pioneered the modelling of realistic Virtual Humans, particularly producing the first simulation of a 3D version of Marilyn Monroe[6][7][8][9][10][11] in the film Rendez-vous in Montreal (1987)[12][13][14] This film was shown in world premiere at the Place des Arts in Montreal to celebrate 100 years of engineering in Canada.

[22] She has worked on the social autonomous robot Nadine,[23][24] modeled in her image, that is able to speak, recognize people and gestures, express mood and emotions, and remember actions.