Steve Jobs

NAME Steven Paul Jobs. He was widely known simply as Steve Jobs, and the name became synonymous with Apple and the personal computer revolution.

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Steve Jobs was an American businessman, inventor, and investor, best known as the co-founder and transformative CEO of Apple Inc. He oversaw the creation of some of the most influential consumer technology products of the modern era, including the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. He also founded NeXT, purchased the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm which became Pixar Animation Studios — responsible for Toy Story and dozens of other acclaimed films — and later joined the board of The Walt Disney Company. (1)

BIRTH Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND Jobs was the biological son of Joanne Carole Schieble, an American of Swiss-German descent, and Dr. Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, a Syrian Muslim who was born in Homs, Syria, and was the youngest of nine siblings from a wealthy family.  Jandali had come to the United States to pursue a PhD in political science at the University of Wisconsin, where he met Schieble. The two faced opposition from Schieble's father due to Jandali's Muslim faith, and when she became pregnant, she arranged a closed adoption.

Jobs was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs, an American of German descent who had worked as a mechanic and later as a car salesman and repossession agent, and his wife Clara Hagopian Jobs, of Armenian descent, who worked as a bookkeeper. 

Neither Paul nor Clara had a college education, and Schieble initially refused to sign the adoption papers, going to court to have the baby placed elsewhere, but relented after Paul and Clara promised to fund their son's college tuition. 

Jobs would bristle when anyone referred to Paul and Clara as his "adoptive parents," insisting they were his parents "1,000%." He referred to his biological parents dismissively as "my sperm and egg bank." (1)

As an adult, Jobs discovered he had a biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson, with whom he developed a close relationship. 

Jobs also visited his biological father's Mediterranean restaurant in San Jose, where the two reportedly shook hands without either realising who the other was — Jobs did not know it was his father, and his father did not know Jobs was the son he had given up for adoption. (2)

CHILDHOOD The Jobs family settled in the Monta Loma neighbourhood of Mountain View, California, and Paul built a workbench in the garage for his son to foster a love of mechanics. Steve had difficulty in a traditional classroom, resisted authority, misbehaved frequently, and was suspended several times. He was bullied at Crittenden Middle School in Mountain View, and eventually gave his parents an ultimatum: move him to a different school or he would drop out. The family stretched their finances to buy a new home in 1967 in Los Altos, California — at 2066 Crist Drive — which placed Steve in the Cupertino School District and later within reach of Homestead High School, a school with strong ties to Silicon Valley. 

At the age of 13, in 1968, Jobs cold-called Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard to ask for electronic parts and ended up being given a summer job. It was at Homestead High that a mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced Jobs to Steve Wozniak. 

By his senior year, Jobs was experimenting with LSD and developing twin passions for electronics and literature, reading Shakespeare and Plato. 

Jobs' Homestead High School yearbook photo, 1972

EDUCATION Jobs had a high school GPA of 2.65. 

 In September 1972, he enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he studied physics, literature, and poetry. After just one semester, he dropped out without telling his parents — partly because he did not want to spend their hard-earned money on an education that felt meaningless to him — but he stayed on campus for a further 18 months, sleeping on friends' floors and returning Coke bottles for food money, while auditing classes that interested him.  Among the courses he audited was a calligraphy class taught by Robert Palladino, which Jobs later credited as the reason Apple's computers featured such elegant multiple typefaces and proportionally spaced fonts. 

As a student, Jobs reportedly stopped showering regularly, believing a fruit-only diet had eliminated his body odour — a conviction his former colleagues firmly disputed. (2)

CAREER RECORD 1974, Worked as a technician for Atari, Inc. in Los Gatos, California. He was famously assigned to the night shift because his strong body odor—stemming from his belief that his diet eliminated the need for showers—disturbed his coworkers.

1976, Co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in his parents' garage on Crist Drive in Los Altos. They released the Apple I.

1984, Led the development and launch of the Macintosh, the first successful mass-market personal computer featuring a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI).

1985, Following a power struggle with CEO John Sculley and the Board of Directors, Jobs was forced out of Apple. He founded NeXT Inc. that same year.

1986, Purchased the Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm’s computer division for $10 million.

1997, Returned to Apple as a consultant after Apple purchased NeXT for $429 million. By July, he was named interim CEO (iCEO).

2000, Officially dropped the "interim" from his title and became the permanent CEO of Apple.

2001-2010, Oversaw a decade of unprecedented innovation, launching the iPod (2001), the iTunes Store (2003), the iPhone (2007), and the iPad (2010).

2011, Resigned as CEO on August 24 due to failing health, serving as Chairman of the Board until his death in October

APPEARANCE Jobs stood approximately 6 feet tall, with a lean, angular frame.  He was known for his piercing, intense gaze — colleagues described his stare as almost hypnotic — and in his later years he had a full head of salt-and-pepper hair. 

During his illness in his final years, he became notably gaunt. 

Steve Jobs shows at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference

FASHION Jobs is one of the most recognizable figures in modern fashion history precisely because of the rigid consistency of his wardrobe. While he dressed more conventionally early in his career, his personal style grew increasingly minimalist as his public profile expanded. By the early 1980s, he was regularly wearing a black turtleneck, and by the late 1990s, he had adopted it as a permanent uniform. 

This signature daily outfit consisted of a black mock turtleneck by Japanese designer Issey Miyake, Levi's 501 jeans, and New Balance sneakers. Jobs reportedly owned hundreds of these turtlenecks, adopting the look deliberately to eliminate the fatigue of daily decision-making and to physically embody his philosophy of focused simplicity. (4)

CHARACTER  Jobs was known for being extremely demanding, temperamental, and possessing a "reality distortion field"—a term used by colleagues to describe his ability to convince himself and others of almost anything through sheer charisma and persistence. 

He was famously dismissive of what he considered mediocre work, and could be brutal in delivering that verdict. He also had a capacity for great generosity: when a secretary was late to work because of car trouble, he reportedly gave her a Jaguar and said, "Don't be late anymore." (2) 

Jobs was a perfectionist who obsessed over details that users might never see, such as the neatness of a computer's internal circuit board.

SPEAKING VOICE Jobs was a celebrated public speaker with a calm, measured, and persuasive delivery — a voice that carried quiet authority rather than volume. He was a master of the dramatic pause and the simple declarative sentence. 

His product launch presentations at Apple were studied by communications experts worldwide as models of clarity and showmanship. 

His 2005 Stanford commencement address, in which he spoke about death and the importance of following one's own path, is regarded as one of the great speeches of the modern era.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Jobs had a dry, sardonic wit. A 1983 typed letter in which he politely declined an autograph request sold at auction for almost $479,939 — the joke being that, despite refusing to sign, the letter bore his signature at the bottom. (2) 

When asked how he planned to lure John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to run Apple, he famously challenged him: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?" (1)

RELATIONSHIPS Jobs's first serious girlfriend was Chrisann Brennan, whom he met at Homestead High School; they had an on-and-off relationship from 1972 to 1977.  In 1978, Brennan gave birth to their daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, but Jobs initially denied paternity even after a DNA test confirmed it at 94.1% probability — he infamously argued that "28% of the male population could be the father."  He later reconciled with Lisa, though their relationship remained complicated, as Lisa documented in her 2019 memoir Small Fry. (3)

Jobs met his future wife, Laurene Powell, in 1989 at a lecture he gave at Stanford University. They married on March 18, 1991, in a ceremony officiated by Zen teacher Kobun Chino Otogawa, and together had three children: son Reed (born 1991), daughter Erin Siena (born 1995), and daughter Eve (born 1998). (5) 

Isaacson wrote that Laurene provided "an anchor for his personality." (6) 

Laurene Powell Jobs by Craig McDean - https://www.emersoncollective.com

Jobs had a particularly warm relationship with Reed, while his relationship with his daughters was more variable — he was often emotionally distant with Erin but admired Eve's strong will. (3)

Jobs had a notable relationship with folk singer Joan Baez, with whom he had a romantic involvement in the early 1980s; four of her albums appeared on his personal iPod. (7)

MONEY AND FAME By age 23, Jobs was worth over $1 million; by age 25, his net worth had grown to an estimated $250 million, making him one of the youngest people ever to appear on the Forbes list of the nation's richest people. When he died, he was worth approximately $8.3 billion — and the majority of that wealth came from his shareholding in Disney, not Apple. Jobs drew an annual salary of only $1 from Apple as CEO. (2)

In 2012, an Italian clothing company called "Steve Jobs" was created after its founders discovered that Apple had never trademarked Jobs's name. (2)

FOOD AND DRINK Jobs was a committed fruitarian — he ate predominantly fruit, along with some nuts and grains. His extreme dietary beliefs led him as a young man to stop showering, convinced that a fruit-only diet had eliminated his body odour; his colleagues strongly disagreed. 

Jobs later adopted a vegan diet and maintained the same conviction about deodorant being unnecessary — again to the discomfort of those around him. 

His dietary habits were among the factors that may have complicated his health in his later years; some medical commentators have noted that his initial decision to pursue juice cleanses and alternative remedies rather than scientifically proven treatments for his cancer may have cost him critical time. (2)

MUSIC AND ARTS  Jobs's musical tastes were rooted in the rock and folk of the 1960s and '70s. His biographer Walter Isaacson wrote: "His iPod selections were those of a kid from the '70s with his heart in the '60s." (8) 

His favourite musical artist was Bob Dylan, of whom he called "one of my heroes," and his iPod contained over a dozen Dylan albums. (7) 

Jobs' favourite band was The Beatles — he once said: "If the vault was on fire and I could grab only one set of master tapes, I would grab the Beatles." (8) 

His iPod also contained music from the Rolling Stones (six albums), Joan Baez, and the Grateful Dead. (7)

Jobs had a profound love of calligraphy, which he had studied at Reed College and which he directly credited as the inspiration for Apple's beautiful typefaces. He worked closely with British designer Jony Ive at Apple, and their shared aesthetic sensibility — elegant, minimal, and purposeful — defined the visual culture of their products. He also had a deep appreciation for Japanese art and maintained a lifelong admiration for artists such as woodblock print artist Hasui Kawase. 

LITERATURE Jobs was a voracious reader with broad literary tastes. At Homestead High he read Shakespeare and Plato and had a phenomenal AP English class that he remembered with great warmth. His biographer Walter Isaacson reports that among his favourite books were Be Here Now by Ram Dass, Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé, King Lear by Shakespeare, and the works of William Blake. 

Jobs was deeply influenced by Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. Jobs encouraged Isaacson to speak to people honestly about him and insisted on no editorial control over the biography except its cover design; he also waived his right to read it before publication. (2)

NATURE Jobs spent time in the early 1970s at the All One Farm commune in Oregon, owned by his friend Robert Friedland, and it was there — working among apple orchards — that the name "Apple" for the company originated. 

He had a deep aesthetic appreciation for simplicity in natural forms, which fed directly into his product design philosophy. His Zen practice reinforced a contemplative relationship with the natural world.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Jobs was an avid walker and held important business meetings while walking, convinced that physical movement stimulated clearer thinking.  He was known to go on long walks when working through problems. 

Image by Perplexity

He had a passion for calligraphy, Zen meditation, and music. He also showed an early interest in electronics as a hobby, which evolved into his career.

COMPUTER INNOVATIONS When Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, the company began in the now-traditional manner for Silicon Valley legends: in a garage, with little money, uncertain prospects and a product that looked as if it had been assembled from spare parts found behind a radio shop. Wozniak was the engineering wizard who designed the Apple I. Jobs was the one who looked at it and thought, in effect, "People might actually buy this."

That instinct proved rather useful. The Apple II, launched in 1977, became one of the first mass-produced microcomputers and helped transform computing from a hobby pursued by men in sheds into something that could plausibly sit on an ordinary desk.

Jobs had an uncanny knack for spotting possibilities that others overlooked. After visiting Xerox PARC in 1979, he became fascinated by its mouse-controlled graphical interface. At the time, most computers communicated with users in a manner that suggested a strained conversation with an irritated filing cabinet. Jobs recognised that people might prefer clicking on pictures instead. The idea led first to the Lisa and then to the Macintosh 128K in 1984, the first mass-produced computer with a graphical user interface, and a machine so influential that it effectively launched the desktop publishing industry.

His return to Apple in 1997 marked one of the more spectacular corporate comebacks in business history. Under Jobs' leadership, Apple introduced a succession of products—the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad—that didn't merely succeed in their markets but often rearranged them entirely. It takes a special kind of company to redefine one industry; Apple managed several before lunch.

Jobs' influence extended beyond Apple. At NeXT, the company he founded after leaving Apple, he oversaw the development of an operating system so robust that it later became the foundation of modern macOS when Apple acquired NeXT. Meanwhile, at Pixar, he helped shepherd Toy Story into cinemas in 1995, giving the world its first fully computer-animated feature film and proving that audiences would happily cry over digital toys.

By the time of his death in 2011, Jobs had been named as an inventor or co-inventor on 342 United States patents. With posthumous grants included, the total exceeds 450—a reminder that while he was not always the person inventing things, he possessed a remarkable talent for recognising which inventions might change the world, and then insisting, often relentlessly, that they do.

Jobs holds up a MacBook Air at the 2008 MacWorld Conference & Expo.by Matthew Yohe

SCIENCE AND MATHS Jobs was not a scientist or engineer in the technical sense — he once described himself as standing "at the intersection of humanities and sciences." He had a gift for intuiting what technology could become rather than how it worked. His approach to product development was driven by aesthetics, simplicity, and user experience rather than pure engineering. He was, however, deeply interested in physics at Reed College.

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1990 using a NeXT computer, one of Jobs's most significant indirect contributions to science. 

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Jobs was raised Lutheran but in his teens became drawn to Eastern mysticism. In 1974, he travelled to India for seven months, visiting ashrams and seeking spiritual enlightenment, accompanied by his Reed College friend Daniel Kottke. On returning to the United States, he became a devoted practitioner of Soto Zen Buddhism under the guidance of Japanese Zen master Kōbun Chino Otogawa, the teacher who later officiated at his wedding.

He undertook lengthy meditation retreats at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California and considered taking up monastic residence in Japan. 

Zen principles — emptiness, simplicity, the removal of the unnecessary, and mindfulness — permeated his design philosophy and working methods throughout his life. (9) 

He once said: "Remembering that you'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." (1)

POLITICS Jobs was a Democrat and had connections to Democratic political figures in Silicon Valley. He was briefly a member of the board of directors at Gap Inc. from 1999 to 2002. 

He met President Barack Obama and participated in a dinner of technology leaders with him in 2011, at which Jobs reportedly told Obama that he was "headed for a one-term presidency" due to his perceived anti-business stance. 

Jobs was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden in 2022. 

Jobs and his Pixar team visited the Oval Office in 1998.

SCANDAL Jobs's denial of paternity for his daughter Lisa Brennan, despite DNA test results, was widely reported and caused lasting damage to his reputation as a father and a man. 

His treatment of early business partner Steve Wozniak — secretly pocketing the lion's share of an Atari bonus that should have been split equally — was only revealed to Wozniak a decade after the fact. (

His decision at Atari to mislead Wozniak about the size of their shared bonus was characterised by Isaacson as an early example of Jobs's willingness to deceive even those closest to him when it suited his interests. (1)

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour. He initially chose to treat it with alternative therapies — including juice cleanses, acupuncture, and dietary interventions — rather than surgery, a delay that he later acknowledged was one of his greatest regrets, as it may have cost him a chance at survival. He eventually underwent surgery and, in 2009, received a liver transplant. 

In his final illness, he reportedly refused to wear an oxygen mask because he disliked its design. (2)

HOMES Jobs grew up in the family home at 2066 Crist Drive, Los Altos, California — the same garage in which Apple Computer was founded in 1976, and which was designated a historic site in 2013. 

The childhood family home of Steve Jobs on Crist Drive in Los Altos by Mathieu Thouvenin 

In 1982, Jobs purchased a two-floor apartment at The San Remo in Manhattan, a building with a politically progressive reputation, which he never actually lived in and spent years renovating with architect I. M. Pei. 

In 1984, he bought the Jackling House, a large estate in Woodside, California, where he lived for approximately a decade before allowing it to fall into disrepair; it was eventually demolished in 2011, shortly before his death. 

For the last two decades of his life, his primary residence was a seven-bedroom English Tudor-style house on Waverley Street, Palo Alto. (10)

TRAVEL In 1974, Jobs travelled to India for seven months, visiting ashrams and seeking spiritual enlightenment. He later travelled to Japan, where he deepened his engagement with Zen Buddhism and developed his aesthetic appreciation for Japanese design and cuisine. (

As a young man at Apple, he travelled extensively to build the company's global reach, and during his years at NeXT he continued to travel widely for business.

DEATH Steve Jobs died at his home on Waverley Street, Palo Alto, California, at approximately 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, from respiratory arrest caused by complications from a relapse of pancreatic cancer. He was 56 years old. 

His last words were reported to be: "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow." 

Bill Gates wrote Jobs a letter as he lay dying; Jobs was moved by it and kept it by his bed. (

Jobs is buried in an unmarked grave at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, the only non-denominational cemetery in Palo Alto, where he rests alongside his parents and technology pioneers such as David Packard. (2)

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Walter Isaacson's authorised biography, Steve Jobs, was published on October 24, 2011, just 19 days after his death. Jobs had encouraged interviewees to speak frankly, asked for no editorial control over the content — only the cover design — and waived his right to read it before publication. (2) 

The 2013 film Jobs starred Ashton Kutcher as Jobs. The 2015 film Steve Jobs, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle, starred Michael Fassbender. 

Jobs has appeared as a character in numerous documentaries, including Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), in which he was played by Noah Wyle. 

Jobs's own product launches, especially the 2007 iPhone reveal, have been widely broadcast and studied as landmark moments of modern media presentation.

ACHIEVEMENTS Co-founded Apple Computer Company (1976), which became the world's most valuable publicly traded company. 

Oversaw the invention of the Macintosh (1984), the first mass-produced personal computer with a graphical user interface. 

Founded NeXT (1985), whose technology became the foundation of modern Apple operating systems. 

Built Pixar into a world-leading animation studio, producing multiple Academy Award-winning films including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and WALL-E. 

Oversaw the creation of the iPod (2001), iPhone (2007), and iPad (2010), transforming the music, mobile telephone, and computing industries respectively. 

Was listed as inventor or co-inventor on over 450 US patents.

Was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022)

Sources: (1) Wikipedia — Steve Jobs (2) Encyclopaedia of Trivia — Steve Jobs (3) All About Steve Jobs — Steve at Home (4) Apple Scoop — Why Did Steve Jobs Wear the Same Outfit Every Day? (5) The Celebrity Families — Steve Jobs' Relationships with Children (6) Shortform — Steve Jobs's Personal Life (7) Rob D. Kelly — Steve Jobs's Personal iPod (8) Far Out Magazine — The Music Steve Jobs Used to Achieve Greatness (9) The Vintage News — How Zen Buddhism Inspired Steve Jobs (10) Realestate.com.au — Steve Jobs' Fortune and Properties

Joseph Marie Jacquard

NAME Joseph Marie Charles, known as Jacquard. The surname "Jacquard" became so synonymous with his invention that it passed into the English language as a common noun — a "jacquard" now refers to any fabric or loom using his punched-card method. (1)

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Joseph Marie Jacquard was a French weaver and inventor, best known for perfecting the Jacquard loom in 1801 — a revolutionary device that used punched cards to automate the weaving of complex textile patterns. His invention transformed the silk-weaving industry and had profound consequences far beyond textiles: the punched-card principle he developed became the conceptual forerunner of computer programming. Charles Babbage adapted the cards for his Analytical Engine, and punched cards remained central to data processing well into the twentieth century. (2)

BIRTH Born July 7, 1752, in Lyon, France

FAMILY BACKGROUND Jacquard was born into a working weaver's family in Lyon, then as now the centre of France's silk trade. His father, Jean-Charles Jacquard, was a master weaver of some modest standing, and his mother, Antoinette Rive, was a pattern reader in the silk trade — a skilled role that required interpreting complex design instructions for the loom. 

He was one of several children, though most of his siblings died young. The family background meant that Jacquard grew up entirely immersed in the culture, economics, and craft of weaving. (2)

CHILDHOOD Jacquard's childhood was marked by early loss: his mother died when he was young, and his father also died before Jacquard reached adulthood, leaving him a small inheritance — looms and some property. 

As a child he worked in the weaving trade, initially as a type-caster for a printer and later as a cutler's apprentice, before returning to weaving. Lyon's silk industry shaped his entire upbringing, and the technical challenges of pattern weaving were the problems he spent his life trying to solve. (2)

EDUCATION Jacquard received little formal education. He was largely self-taught, learning his trade through apprenticeships and practical experience in Lyon's workshops. There is no record of any significant schooling, and his genius was emphatically that of the workshop rather than the academy. (2)

CAREER RECORD 1772: Following the death of his father, Jacquard attempted to run the family weaving business in Lyon, but struggled financially. He tried various other occupations, including work as a lime-burner and a hat-maker, before returning to weaving.

1790s: Jacquard began serious work on improving the drawloom, a cumbersome device that required a second person — a "draw boy" — to manually lift the warp threads to create patterns. He sought to automate this labour-intensive process.

1801: Jacquard demonstrated an improved loom at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in Paris, winning a bronze medal. The device simplified the process of making textiles with complex patterns.

1804: He made his major improvement, using cards with punched holes to control hooks and needles that directed the pattern weaving. Each card corresponded to one row of a design; a hole meant a thread was raised, no hole meant it was not — a binary on/off principle. Napoleon Bonaparte, recognising the invention's industrial significance, awarded Jacquard a pension and a royalty on each loom sold.

1806: The Jacquard loom was declared public property by the French state, and Jacquard was granted a pension and royalties. The loom was exhibited in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

By the 1830s, tens of thousands of Jacquard looms were in use across France and Britain, having largely replaced older drawloom methods in the production of patterned silk.  (3)

APPEARANCE No reliable contemporary portrait survives that gives a detailed physical description. A well-known portrait — itself woven in silk on a Jacquard loom, a deliberate demonstration of the machine's capabilities — shows him as a solidly built man with a broad face, wearing the respectable bourgeois dress of a successful provincial artisan of the Napoleonic era. (4)

The portrait of Jacquard woven in silk on a Jacquard loom

FASHION Jacquard dressed in the sober, practical style of a prosperous French craftsman and small businessman of the early nineteenth century. There is no evidence he was particularly interested in fashionable dress, despite spending his life in an industry dedicated to producing luxury fabrics. 

CHARACTER Accounts suggest Jacquard was tenacious and practical, with the stubbornness typical of a self-taught inventor who had spent decades refining a single great idea in the face of considerable opposition. Lyon's weavers, fearing unemployment, initially rioted against his loom and are said to have attacked him in the streets. He persisted nonetheless. 

He was reportedly modest in temperament, more comfortable in a workshop than a salon. (2)

SPEAKING VOICE Historical accounts of his presentations before Paris industrial boards and interactions with Napoleon Bonaparte describe him as a modest, practical man who spoke with the clear, direct, and unpretentious dialect of a Lyon craftsman rather than a polished Parisian academic.

RELATIONSHIPS Jacquard married Claudine Boichon on July 26, 1778. She was a middle-class widow from Lyon who owned property and brought a substantial dowry to the marriage. His early financial failures drained her resources considerably — by 1783 much of her dowry and property were gone — yet Claudine remained a loyal and steadfast partner throughout his long years of struggle. 

The couple had one son, Jean Marie, born in April 1779. Father and son were exceptionally close, and when Lyon rose in rebellion against the Revolutionary government in 1793, they enlisted together in the Rhône-et-Loire battalion and served side-by-side in the Army of the Rhine. Jean Marie was wounded in the Rhine campaign and died in 1795. There is something particularly poignant in the fact that the man who would go on to transform European industry had first to bury the son with whom he had gone to war. (4)

MONEY AND FAME Jacquard died a comfortable if not wealthy man. Napoleon's award of a pension and a royalty of fifty francs per loom sold gave him a degree of financial security he had never known in his earlier years. 

His fame during his lifetime was considerable in industrial and technical circles, and he was well regarded in Lyon, where his loom had transformed the city's most important industry. He was awarded the Légion d'honneur. A statue was erected to him in Lyon during his own lifetime — a rare honour. (2)

FOOD AND DRINK No specific information about Jacquard's diet or food preferences survives in the historical record. He lived his entire life in Lyon, a city already celebrated for its regional cuisine and wines, and as a man of comfortable means in his later years, would presumably have enjoyed the hearty fare for which the region is renowned.

MUSIC AND ARTS Jacquard lived in a city famous for the visual beauty of its silk textiles, and his life's work was inseparable from decorative art. The patterns woven on his looms — elaborate florals, portraits, and pictorial scenes — were genuine works of applied art. 

The most famous demonstration of the loom's artistic capability was a woven silk portrait of Jacquard himself, produced around 1839 by the weaver Claude Bonnefond using a design by the portraitist François Gonin. It required approximately 24,000 punched cards to produce. Charles Babbage owned a copy and displayed it proudly.

Jacquard's punched-card concept also has a direct relationship with mechanical music. The same binary principle — hole or no hole triggering an action — was later used to control automated musical instruments, most famously the player piano, whose paper rolls encode melodies as a sequence of punched holes. The barrel organ and mechanical music box work on the same logic. In this sense, every fairground organ and self-playing piano owes an indirect debt to a Lyon silk weaver. (5)

LITERATURE  Working as a type-founder in his youth, gave Jacquard an early exposure to the world of print, However, he was not known as a reader or writer beyond the practical requirements of his trade. 

HOBBIES AND SPORTS His absolute favorite hobby and lifelong obsession was mechanical design. Jacquard spent almost all of his leisure hours dismantling existing machines, sketching gears, and conceptualizing automated attachments to solve complex manufacturing bottlenecks. 

JACQUARD MACHINE The Jacquard loom, perfected in 1804, was one of those inventions that quietly changed the world while looking, at first glance, like an unusually complicated wardrobe. It was essentially a clever attachment fitted atop a standard drawloom that automated the lifting of warp threads, thereby sparing generations of draw boys from a lifetime spent yanking cords in dusty textile mills — work which, even by the generous standards of the Industrial Revolution, was not widely regarded as a dream occupation.

Jacquard loom on display in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England

Its marvel lay in a system of punched cards: stiff rectangles of card with holes punched in very precise places. Each card instructed the loom which threads to lift and which to leave alone. If a hole was present, a needle slipped through and raised the thread. If there was no hole, the needle stopped short and the thread stayed down. It was a wonderfully simple idea — yes or no, hole or no hole, on or off — though one suspects it took rather longer to think up than to explain.

What Jacquard had inadvertently created was a form of binary code decades before anyone had thought to call it that. Any pattern, no matter how elaborate, could be translated into a sequence of cards and reproduced endlessly with perfect consistency. Silk weavers suddenly possessed, in effect, a programmable machine. This was a startling development in an age when most machinery still behaved with the reliability and temperament of a disgruntled mule. 

The implications reached far beyond textiles. Charles Babbage borrowed the idea for his proposed Analytical Engine in the 1830s, imagining punched cards directing calculations in the same way they directed woven patterns. Later, Herman Hollerith used punched cards to process the 1890 United States Census, reducing a task that once took nearly a decade to something much more manageable. Hollerith’s system eventually evolved into the famous IBM punched card, which remained the standard way of feeding information into computers until the 1970s — meaning that, in a perfectly respectable historical sense, the modern computer owes a debt to a French silk loom.

Close-up of the 8 × 26 hole punched cards on a Jaquard loom

SCIENCE AND MATHS Jacquard was not a scientist or mathematician in the formal sense, but his intuition about binary encoding was genuinely profound. The principle that a hole or its absence can correspond to an "on or off" action — or to 0 and 1 in binary notation — anticipated the logical foundations of digital computing by over a century. He arrived at this insight not through mathematical theory but through the practical demands of automating a loom. (6), 

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY Jacquard was born and died in Catholic France and was almost certainly nominally Catholic, but no details of personal religious conviction are recorded. 

POLITICS Jacquard lived through the French Revolution, the Terror, the Directory, the Consulate, the Napoleonic Empire, the Restoration, and the July Monarchy — one of the most turbulent periods in French political history. He served briefly in the Revolutionary armies. Napoleon personally patronised his invention and met with him, recognising the loom's importance to French industrial competitiveness. After the Restoration, Jacquard retained his pension and honours, suggesting he was adept at navigating political change. (2)

SCANDAL When the Jacquard loom was introduced, Lyon's silk weavers, fearing that the machine would destroy their livelihoods, rioted. Jacquard was reportedly attacked in the streets, and his looms were publicly burned on the banks of the Rhône. The city's authorities eventually imposed the loom by decree, and the fears of mass unemployment proved unfounded — Lyon's silk industry actually expanded. The episode was one of the most dramatic instances of Luddite-style resistance in French industrial history. (2)

Lyon rioting silk weavers burning Jacquard's loom by Perplexity

MILITARY RECORD During the French Revolutionary Wars, Jacquard served in the Republican army following the Siege of Lyon in 1793. Lyon had resisted the Revolutionary government and was brutally suppressed; Jacquard and his son both served, and his son was killed in the fighting. Jacquard himself returned to Lyon and resumed his work on the loom. (2)

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Jacquard possessed a remarkably robust constitution, surviving the high infant mortality rates of the 18th century that claimed seven of his siblings. He withstood years of harsh factory conditions, survived active military combat on the frontlines of the Rhinem and lived to the age of 82 — a considerable age for the era. 

HOMES Jacquard was born and spent most of his life in Lyon, France. He died in Oullins, a small town just south of Lyon, on August 7, 1834. 

TRAVEL Jacquard's world was essentially Lyon and its surrounding region — he was not a man of wide geographical horizons. His most significant journeys were to Paris, which he visited on several occasions between 1801 and 1804. He exhibited at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in 1801, winning a bronze medal, and returned in 1803 when he was summoned to Paris and attached to the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. It was there that he encountered Jacques de Vaucanson's experimental loom — a pivotal moment that directly inspired his punched-card breakthrough. He returned again in 1804 to exhibit his perfected loom, winning a gold medal. He also met Napoleon Bonaparte in person during this period, a mark of the considerable official interest his invention had attracted. Beyond these visits to the capital, there is no record of travel outside France. (7)

DEATH Jacquard died on August 7, 1834, in Oullins, near Lyon, France, at the age of 82. The cause of death is not specifically recorded. A bronze statue was erected in his honour in Lyon, on the very spot where his looms had once been publicly burned. (2)

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Jacquard has appeared as a historical figure in numerous books about the history of computing and technology, where he is routinely cited as an indirect founding figure of the digital age. He features prominently in James Essinger's Jacquard's Web (2004), which traces the direct line from his punched cards to the modern computer. He also appears in accounts of the early history of artificial intelligence and computing, including works about Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. (6)

His famous 1839 woven silk portrait remains a highly celebrated exhibit item, displayed at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a physical link between textile art and modern digital software.

ACHIEVEMENTS Perfected the Jacquard loom in 1804, transforming the textile industry worldwide

Introduced the punched card as a data-storage and control mechanism — the conceptual ancestor of all subsequent punched-card computing systems

Awarded the Légion d'honneur by the French state

Honoured with a statue in Lyon erected during his own lifetime

His name entered the English and French languages as a common noun describing a weaving technique and the fabrics produced by it

Indirectly inspired Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, Herman Hollerith's census machine, and ultimately the IBM punched card used in twentieth-century computing 

Sources: (1) Wikipedia — Joseph Marie Jacquard (2) Encyclopædia Britannica — Joseph Marie Jacquard (3) Encyclopaedia of Trivia — Punched Card (4) Napoleon.org — Jacquard biography (5) Computer History Museum — Jacquard's Loom (6) James Essinger, *Jacquard's Web* (Oxford University Press, 2004) (7) Computer Timeline — Joseph-Marie Jacquard

Bill Gates

NAME William Henry Gates III

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world.

BIRTH William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. He was born at a time when computers were massive machines owned only by large corporations and universities, making his future impact on personal computing all the more remarkable.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Gates was born into an upper-middle-class family with deep roots in business, law, and community service. His father, William H. Gates Sr. (1925–2020), was a prominent lawyer who co-founded the prestigious law firm Preston Gates & Ellis, which later became part of K&L Gates, one of the world's largest law firms. His father also served as president of both the Seattle King County and Washington State Bar associations and was deeply involved in philanthropy, helping establish the William H. Gates Foundation in 1994.

His mother, Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994), was equally accomplished, serving on the board of directors of First Interstate BancSystem and United Way of America. She was a former schoolteacher who later devoted herself to charitable work and was instrumental in instilling values of civic duty and philanthropy in her children. Gates's maternal grandfather, J. W. Maxwell, was a national bank president.

Gates has two sisters: Kristi (Kristianne), who is older, and Libby, who is younger. The family ancestry includes English, German, and Irish/Scots-Irish heritage.

CHILDHOOD Gates displayed exceptional intellectual abilities from an early age. He was described as curious and inquisitive, always asking questions and seeking out new information. At age 8, he began reading encyclopedias for fun, demonstrating an unusual thirst for knowledge. However, his childhood was not without challenges - he was small for his age and was bullied as a child.

The Gates family encouraged competition, with one visitor reporting that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock; there was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing". The family lived in the Sand Point area of Seattle in a home that was damaged by a rare tornado when Gates was 7.

During his childhood, the family regularly attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches, a Protestant Reformed denomination. His parents initially wanted him to pursue a career in law.

EDUCATION Gates’s educational journey blended academic brilliance with a deepening fascination for technology. He began in public school, but soon found the pace unstimulating. At age 13, his parents enrolled him in the elite Lakeside School in Seattle—an all-boys preparatory school at the time, known for its strict dress code (jackets and ties), formal traditions (students addressed teachers as “master”), and mandatory daily chapel.

Though Gates briefly considered intentionally flunking the entrance exam, he ultimately gave it his full effort and was accepted. The decision would prove life-changing.

The turning point came in 1968, when Gates was in eighth grade. Lakeside’s Mothers’ Club funded the purchase of a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and paid for access to a General Electric mainframe. It was on this machine that Gates wrote his very first computer program—a version of tic-tac-toe that let users play against the computer.

At Lakeside, Gates met Paul Allen, a senior student who shared his enthusiasm for computers. Alongside other tech-minded classmates, they formed the Lakeside Programmers Club and began monetizing their skills. By the time Gates was 17, he and Allen launched Traf-O-Data, a startup that built traffic-counting machines using the Intel 8008 processor.

Gates (right) with Paul Allen seated at Teletype Model 33 ASR terminals in Lakeside School (1970)

Gates stood out academically, scoring a near-perfect 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT and graduating as a National Merit Scholar in 1973. A year earlier, he had also served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the fall of 1973, Gates enrolled at Harvard University. There, he tackled some of the university’s toughest courses, including Math 55 and graduate-level computer science. He also met Steve Ballmer—his future Microsoft CEO. But after just two years, in 1975, Gates left Harvard to pursue what he saw as the real future: founding Microsoft with Paul Allen. He remained officially on leave from the university for many years, but never returned.

CAREER RECORD Gates's career trajectory shows a remarkable evolution from teenage programmer to global technology leader and philanthropist.

1968-1975 Gates began programming at age 13 and quickly became proficient, working on various projects including school systems and traffic counting devices.

1975: Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, initially as "Micro-Soft" (the hyphen was dropped within a year). Gates served as CEO of Microsoft for 25 years. Under his leadership, Microsoft became the dominant force in personal computing through MS-DOS and later Windows. The company went public in 1986, making Gates a billionaire at age 31 - the youngest ever at that time.

2000-2008: Gates stepped down as CEO in 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer, but remained as Chief Software Architect and Chairman.

2000-present): In 2000, Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his then-wife Melinda. Since 2008, he has focused full-time on philanthropy, working on global health, education, and poverty alleviation.

APPEARANCE Gates is if average height and build with a boyish appearance. He stands approximately 5'10" (178 cm) tall. Throughout his career, his appearance has remained relatively consistent, featuring glasses that haven't changed much in 40 years. He often needs a haircut and maintains a casual, unpretentious look.

Bill Gates 2025 by By © European Union, 2025,

FASHION Gates' staple look consists of sweaters over collared shirts, modest clothing that has remained unchanged throughout his career. He favors simple, straightforward looks like shirts, jumpers and chinos and has maintained a frugal approach to his wardrobe, avoiding expensive clothes and jewelry.

In a 2016 Reddit AMA, Gates explained: "I don't like spending a lot of money on clothes or jewelry". He revealed that he wears a $10 wristwatch and explained that "I think people's spending instincts are set when they are in high school". (1)

His casual style became so iconic that in Seoul, South Korea, many entrepreneurs began copying his look, considering it a symbol of successful tech leadership.

CHARACTER From an early age, Gates devoured books with a near-religious fervor, and that hunger for knowledge has never waned. Today, whether it’s quantum computing or global health policy, Gates is rarely without something new to explore.

He is also famously competitive—a trait that, during the early Microsoft years, made the company both a formidable force and a demanding place to work. Gates routinely worked grueling hours and expected similar dedication from those around him. He didn’t just want to win—he wanted to master every field he entered.

Analytical to the core, Gates approaches problems like puzzles to be solved. His decision-making has always been rooted in logic and systems-thinking, allowing him to anticipate industry shifts and outmaneuver rivals with surgical precision.

Psychologists and biographers alike often point to Gates’s personality type as INTP—introverted, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving. In Enneagram terms, he’s seen as a Type 5: “The Thinker”—independent, perceptive, and driven by a deep need to understand the world. These frameworks, while not definitive, reflect his preference for solitude, abstraction, and autonomy.

As a leader, Gates brought a unique blend of vision and precision. He wasn’t a charismatic showman, but he didn’t need to be—he led by sheer intellectual force and a relentless pursuit of innovation. Colleagues describe him as hands-on, curious, flexible, and always several steps ahead.

In his 2025 memoir Source Code: My Beginnings, Gates opens a more personal window into his early life, reflecting on his neurodivergence. He writes that if he were growing up today, he “would probably be diagnosed with autism.” He credits his parents for helping him navigate the social world—through therapy, private schooling, and structured activities like sports. It’s a revealing moment from a man who has spent much of his life in front of a screen, quietly reprogramming the modern world.

SPEAKING VOICE Gates speaks with a Pacific Northwest accent, shaped by his Seattle upbringing. Interestingly, some listeners have mistaken his speech for Canadian, due in part to his vowel sounds. Words like “lot” and “top” are pronounced with a more back and rounded vowel, while “trap” and “that” also carry a slightly retracted quality—subtle markers of his regional tone. (2)

Vocal coaches and speech experts have noted a few challenges in his delivery. Gates has been described as having posture and breathing habits that can limit vocal support. His speech sometimes carries tension—particularly in the neck and shoulders—that affects the ease of airflow, making him occasionally sound less polished or prepared than he actually is. This can lend an impression of being “flat” or “insincere,” despite the substance of what he’s saying.

His delivery style is restrained and deliberate. Gates tends to use minimal body language when speaking publicly. His facial expressions are neutral, and his gestures are economical—used sparingly to underscore a point. His tone remains calm and steady, often reflecting his analytical mindset more than any emotional persuasion. He communicates more like a quietly confident engineer than a charismatic orator, and for Gates, that has always been more than enough. 

SENSE OF HUMOUR Bill Gates has a quietly distinctive sense of humor—dry, self-aware, and often tinged with nerdy delight. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his annual Reddit "Ask Me Anything" sessions, where his playful side tends to peek through the buttoned-up exterior.

He’s especially fond of self-deprecating humor. Gates has been known to poke fun at his own awkwardness, even referencing old Microsoft promotional videos in which he and Steve Ballmer dressed up as Austin Powers and Dr. Evil—an image that, once seen, is difficult to forget.

Every year, Gates adds flair to his AMA appearances with creative visual gags—cartoon illustrations, staged photos, or quirky props that suggest all the things he won’t be doing that day. It’s the kind of low-key goofiness that reveals a surprisingly good-natured side beneath the analytical exterior.

He also enjoys wordplay and puns, especially those involving technology or business. Jokes about “Windows crashes” or Excel “spread” sheets are right in his wheelhouse. His humor leans clever rather than slapstick—more Silicon Valley than stand-up club.

Above all, Gates’s comedy is rooted in dry wit. He rarely goes for the obvious laugh, preferring a raised eyebrow and a well-timed line that lands softly but cleverly. It’s the humor of someone who doesn’t need to be funny to be liked—but is quietly funny anyway.

RELATIONSHIPS Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994, in Lanai, Hawaii. He rented the entire island and all nearby helicopters for privacy. They met in 1987 at a Microsoft conference where Melinda was a product manager and Bill was CEO. They co-founded and co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bill and Melinda Gates in 2009 by Kjetil Ree Wikipedia

Bill and Melinda Gates finalized their divorce on August 2, 2021, though they had separated privately the year before. The news surprised many, as they were widely seen as a prominent philanthropic power couple. Despite not having a prenuptial agreement, Melinda Gates did not seek spousal support, instead she was allocated over $2 billion in stocks and shares. 

Melinda has indicated that "things that happened outside their marriage" influenced her decision to divorce, and she specifically mentioned discomfort with Bill's meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. 

Gates and Melinda have three children: Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe. Gates has been described as finding great joy in spending time with his family and children.

Since 2022, Gates has been in a relationship with Paula Hurd, the widow of former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.

Gates has admitted to having an affair with a Microsoft employee during his marriage. There were also reports of an alleged relationship with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, which Jeffrey Epstein allegedly tried to use as leverage.

Warren Buffett is a close friend and mentor, and a significant donor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

MONEY AND FAME Bill Gates became one of the wealthiest individuals in the world through Microsoft, holding the title of the world's richest person for many years. His fame stems from his immense success in technology and his subsequent pivot to large-scale philanthropy. 

Gates has stated that "wealth has no utility to me beyond a certain point" and expressed intentions to give away virtually all his wealth. He plans to donate most of his $200 billion fortune through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years. In 2010, Gates co-founded The Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett and Melinda, encouraging billionaires to commit at least half their wealth to philanthropy.

MICROSOFT Like a lot of precocious children, Bill Gates discovered his life’s calling far earlier than seemed decent. At age 13, while most boys were perfecting their ability to throw erasers or torment siblings, Gates found himself utterly and irreversibly absorbed by the flickering mysteries of a computer terminal at Seattle’s Lakeside School. It was the kind of terminal that spat out instructions on paper rolls and connected to a General Electric mainframe somewhere in the cloudless distance. It made odd chattering noises and smelled faintly of burnt plastic, but to young Gates, it was the Sistine Chapel.

Naturally, he did what any clever teenager would do: he exploited it. Along with Paul Allen, a fellow Lakeside student who looked like he might already own several spare neckties, Gates formed the Lakeside Programmers Club. The idea was to charge people for fixing software problems they’d probably created in the first place. They weren’t just coding; they were monetizing—long before anyone knew that word would one day be shouted at interns by tech bros over kombucha.

Then came Traf-O-Data, a teenage venture so delightfully dorky it sounded like something cooked up by Monty Python. The business involved building devices—using the then-exotic Intel 8008 chip—that could count how many cars passed by on a given stretch of road. Gates and Allen didn’t just write code; they built boxes, wrangled hardware, and pretended to know what traffic engineers actually did for a living. It was absurdly ambitious. It was also oddly effective.

But Traf-O-Data was just the warm-up act. In 1975, Gates and Allen founded a company called "Micro-Soft" (they later lost the hyphen, presumably in a tax-related accident). Their goal? To write software for the Altair 8800, a computer so primitive it made a toaster look clever. Their first product, a version of BASIC, was—against all odds—a hit. People paid actual money for it. Suddenly, the boys from Lakeside were businessmen.

Gates, unsurprisingly, became CEO. And from 1975 to 2000, he guided Microsoft from a scrappy startup in Albuquerque to a globe-spanning behemoth that made more money than some continents. Along the way, he engineered one of the most audacious business coups in history: a deal with IBM to supply the MS-DOS operating system, which IBM needed in a hurry and Microsoft didn’t technically own. (They bought it, in classic Gates fashion, just in time to sell it.)

Under Gates’s leadership, Microsoft not only dominated the PC world with MS-DOS but redefined it entirely with Windows, a graphical user interface that allowed ordinary humans to interact with computers without weeping. Microsoft first presented to the public Windows 1.0 on November 10, 1983. It ran on 2 floppy disks and 192 KB of RAM.

Screenshot of Microsoft Windows 1.0 operating environment - Wikipedia

Then came Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and a host of enterprise products—each more lucrative than the last.

In 1986, Microsoft went public. Gates, still shy of his mid-30s and fond of Diet Coke, became the youngest billionaire in history. He celebrated, naturally, by buying a used Porsche 911.

By 2000, Gates stepped down as CEO, handing the reins to his Harvard dormmate Steve Ballmer, whose boundless energy could be measured only in units of Red Bull. Gates took on the role of Chief Software Architect and remained as chairman, nudging Microsoft toward new innovations while quietly thinking about malaria.

By 2008, he shifted again—this time from tech mogul to full-time philanthropist. With the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he turned his laser-like intellect to eradicating diseases, improving education, and figuring out why the world can’t seem to get toilets right. He gradually stepped away from Microsoft, though he lingered as a board member and advisor, popping in occasionally like a benevolent billionaire uncle.

And so, from tic-tac-toe to tectonic global shifts in software, Gates’s journey was not merely a triumph of code, but of vision, timing, and—as he might admit with a grin—just a little bit of luck.

FOOD AND DRINK When it comes to favorites, Gates has made no secret of his love for cheeseburgers, especially from In-N-Out or McDonald’s. He once confessed, “Cheeseburgers are my favorite food. But I wish they weren’t,” acknowledging the environmental cost of meat consumption with characteristic honesty.

His drink of choice? Diet Coke, which he reportedly consumes with regularity—sometimes several cans a day. It’s a habit that’s followed him from boardroom to foundation office.

Despite his fast-food preferences, Gates is deeply engaged with the environmental impact of the global food system. He actively promotes plant-based and alternative proteins as solutions to climate change and has even incorporated fonio—a highly nutritious, drought-resistant African grain—into his own diet for its health benefits and low ecological footprint.

Gates’s dietary philosophy is modest and practical. He favors simple, sustainable meals and backs technologies that can make healthy food accessible and eco-friendly. This includes support for lab-grown meat, as well as investments in food innovation aimed at combating malnutrition in the developing world.

Whether it’s burgers or biotech, Gates approaches food with the same mindset he brings to global health and technology: a mix of pragmatism, curiosity, and a long view of the planet’s future.

MUSIC AND ARTS Gates took piano lessons as a child but eventually "music gave way to an interest in sports". Despite not pursuing music professionally, he has maintained an appreciation for classical music, noting that Dvořák's New World Symphony, particularly the "Largo" movement, is one of his favorite classical pieces.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has supported arts programs, including a $25,000 grant to Youth Advancement Through Music and Art (YATMA). This program provides music and arts instruction to youth, including private lessons in musical instruments, voice, dance, creative writing, and visual arts.

Gates owns a 16th-century Leonardo da Vinci manuscript that he purchased for $30 million in 1994. His homes also feature famous paintings, including a Winslow Homer painting he purchased for $36 million in 1988.

Gates has commissioned fine art to promote global health awareness, enlisting more than 30 artists to create images that bring vaccination statistics to life. The goal was to "spark conversations, interest and, ultimately, funding for vaccines".

LITERATURE Gates is an avid reader across a wide range of subjects, particularly non-fiction. He reads approximately one book per week and has maintained this pace since he was a child. He always brings a whole tote bag of books on vacation and considers reading one of his favorite ways to relax.

Gates takes extensive notes in the margins of books, prefers paper books over ebooks, and blocks out an hour after reading to reflect on the content. He follows the principle of "don't start what you can't finish".

Gates regularly publishes book reviews on his blog, Gates Notes, and has recommended hundreds of books over the years. Gates reads more nonfiction than fiction, with preferences for books on history, science, technology, and economics. Notable favorites include Grand Transitions and How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil, and The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker. His favorite novels include The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal.

Gates has written several books himself, including Source Code: My Beginnings (2025), the first of a planned three-volume autobiography.

NATURE Bill Gates’s interest in the environment is rooted in climate action and conservation technology. Gates supports organizations like The Nature Conservancy, but his real focus lies in transforming how we live and produce energy to reduce environmental harm. He doesn’t romanticize nature—he strategizes around it.

While many advocate for tree-planting as a solution to global warming, Gates has been blunt in his assessment: he’s called an overreliance on trees for carbon offsetting “complete nonsense.” In his view, the climate crisis requires industrial-scale innovation, not symbolic gestures. He champions solutions like carbon capture, green hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel, backing them through ventures like Breakthrough Energy.

One of the more surprising facts about Gates is that he’s now the 42nd largest landowner in the United States, holding roughly 275,000 acres, including about 242,000 acres of farmland spread across Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona, and beyond. Far from a vanity purchase, Gates says the farmland is part of an effort to improve productivity and support sustainable agriculture—essentially, trying to future-proof the food system.

In short, Gates doesn’t just think about preserving nature—he wants to redesign humanity’s footprint on it, using data, dollars, and deep tech to do it.

Gates and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron at COP28 in Dubai in 2023

PETS While Bill Gates isn’t known as a pet owner, his connection to animals runs deep—primarily through his philanthropic work focused on animal welfare and agricultural development.

Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has invested heavily in livestock research and animal health, particularly in the developing world. The foundation has allocated over $40 million to initiatives aimed at improving the productivity and resilience of farm animals—supporting projects like higher-yielding dairy cows, chickens that produce more nutritious eggs, and vaccines to protect livestock from disease.

Gates has spoken with admiration about the role animals play in improving lives, especially in low-income regions. “If you care about agriculture, you care about livestock,” he’s said. “Livestock is magical. You can sell the output and that’s money for school fees. You can keep the output and that’s diet diversification.” His views highlight a practical, systems-level approach to animal welfare—one rooted in nutrition, economics, and sustainability. (3)

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Gates plays tennis regularly and considers it one of his favorite forms of exercise. He has played charity matches with professional players including Roger Federer and uses the sport for both fitness and philanthropic fundraising.

Gates has been playing pickleball for over 50 years, long before it became popular. He describes himself as a "Pickler" (someone obsessed with the game) and notes that the sport started near his home in the Pacific Northwest.

Gates is an "avid bridge player" who learned the game from Warren Buffett. He considers it one of his "old-fashioned" hobbies and appreciates the mix of strategy and teamwork required.

 Gates enjoys "Settlers of Catan," a civilization-building board game that he plays with his family. He told Time in 2018 "Melinda, our kids, and I have spent many hours sitting around the table trading resources, building roads, and strategizing".

While primarily educational, Gates considers reading a relaxing hobby, noting "It may not be too surprising that one of my favorite ways to relax is to keep learning".

Gates enjoys traveling to different parts of the world to learn about cultures, economies, and global challenges. (4)

SCIENCE AND MATHS From a young age, Gates demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for mathematics. By age 13, he had already begun distinguishing himself among the region’s brightest students, winning a regional math competition that hinted at the analytical mind to come.

At Harvard University, he dove headfirst into some of the school’s most demanding coursework, including Math 55, a notoriously rigorous class often described as a boot camp for future theorists. During his time there, Gates developed an algorithm for pancake sorting—a whimsical but serious mathematical challenge—which stood as the fastest known solution for over three decades.

But Gates’s engagement with science goes far beyond the classroom. In his philanthropic and entrepreneurial work, he has consistently embraced a data-driven, scientific mindset. Whether tackling malaria, climate change, or agricultural reform, Gates approaches problems with the logic of a systems engineer and the precision of a statistician.

Through initiatives like Breakthrough Energy, he funds high-impact research in clean energy, artificial intelligence, and climate innovation, aiming to scale solutions that can reshape entire industries. He also chairs TerraPower, a company developing next-generation nuclear reactors designed for safer, more sustainable energy.

Today, Gates remains deeply invested in the frontiers of science, with a particular focus on AI, robotics, and biotechnology. He regularly publishes insights on how emerging technologies will shape the future and supports research at institutions like Harvard—continuing to blend his love of learning with a commitment to global progress.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Gates was raised in a Christian family, with his mother being a devout Episcopalian. The family regularly attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches during his childhood. However, Gates describes himself as agnostic, meaning he doesn't believe in a personal God but doesn't dismiss the possibility of a greater power. He has stated: "I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don't know".

Gates respects religious traditions and their moral teachings. He has said: "The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in". (5)

Gates believes science is the best path to understanding the world and typically relies on reason and evidence rather than religious belief. He approaches problems with optimization and analytical thinking.

Gates finds merit in basic principles of mercy, kindness, and helping others that are common to most religions. His philanthropic work reflects these values.

POLITICS For much of his public life, Gates maintained a largely non-partisan stance, focusing on bipartisan solutions to global issues like health, education, and climate change. His emphasis was on policy over party, often working with leaders across the political spectrum to advance scientific and humanitarian goals.

That approach began to shift more noticeably in recent years. In a notable move during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Gates reportedly made a private donation of approximately $50 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign. The funds were directed to Future Forward USA Action, a nonprofit group that does not publicly disclose its donors. The contribution marked a significant step into the political fray for someone long known for his behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

Gates also voiced deep concerns about the potential consequences of a second Donald Trump presidency, though he’s careful to stress his willingness to work with any administration to address urgent global issues.

In terms of policy, Gates has consistently backed progressive taxation, including calls for higher state income taxes on the wealthy and the preservation of estate taxes. His views reflect a belief in economic fairness and a desire to prevent extreme wealth from becoming entrenched across generations.

He has also commented on the changing political climate within the tech world, expressing surprise at the rise of a right-leaning faction in Silicon Valley. “I always thought of Silicon Valley as being left of center,” he admitted in an interview, noting the cultural shift with some concern.

Still, much of Gates’s political focus remains global rather than domestic. His energies are largely channeled into international development, public health, and climate policy, where he continues to advocate for science-based solutions and sustained foreign aid—regardless of who’s in office.

SCANDAL Gates has faced several significant controversies that have impacted his public image:

The most prominent scandal involves Gates's relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Gates met with Epstein multiple times between 2011 and 2014, even after Epstein's 2008 conviction. Gates has called these meetings "a huge mistake" and stated he was "foolish to spend any time with him". The Epstein relationship contributed to Gates's divorce from Melinda. Melinda had expressed discomfort with the meetings, calling Epstein "abhorrent" and "evil personified".

Reports suggest Epstein threatened to expose Gates's alleged affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova in 2017 when Gates refused to join Epstein's charitable fund.

Gates has publicly acknowledged being unfaithful to Melinda during their marriage. There was also an investigation into an alleged relationship with a Microsoft employee.

Some Microsoft employees have accused Gates of bullying and inappropriate workplace behavior, though Gates has not specifically addressed these allegations.

MILITARY RECORD Bill Gates has no military record. He was born in 1955 and came of age after the Vietnam War draft had ended. Gates has never served in the military in any capacity.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Gates is a regular tennis player, often describing the sport as a favorite form of exercise. For Gates, tennis offers not only a cardiovascular workout but also a way to sharpen reflexes and engage in friendly competition. He has also enjoyed pickleball for over 50 years, long before the sport's recent surge in popularity.

Travel is another form of activity he embraces—not just for the cultural enrichment but as a physically engaging pursuit that keeps him moving and learning.

To stay mentally sharp, Gates practices memory and visualization techniques, including building “memory palaces”—a method that dates back to ancient Greece. These cognitive exercises, he says, help keep his mind agile and improve recall, particularly as he ages.

Through more than 25 years of philanthropic work in global health, Gates has become one of the most influential non-medical voices in public health policy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he emerged as a key figure in the global response. His foundation co-founded the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator in 2020 to speed the development of new treatments, despite Gates himself having no formal medical training.

HOMES  His primary residence, famously dubbed “Xanadu 2.0” after the opulent estate in Citizen Kane, is a 66,000-square-foot tech-enabled mansion in Medina, Washington. Valued at around $183.5 million, the property spans nearly 11 acres along Lake Washington and features seven bedrooms, six kitchens, 24 bathrooms, six fireplaces, a 60-foot swimming pool with an underwater sound system, a 2,500-square-foot gym, and a 2,100-square-foot library. It’s less a house and more a private, self-sufficient campus.

Gates also owns multiple properties in California:

In Indian Wells, he purchased a 13,573-square-foot home for $15 million in 1999.

In Rancho Santa Fe, he bought a sprawling 229-acre estate with equestrian facilities for $18 million in 2014.

In Del Mar, he added a $43 million beachfront house in 2020—an oceanfront property measuring about 5,800 square feet.

Beyond the West Coast, Gates’s portfolio includes:

Florida: Properties in Wellington and Hobe Sound, including a $13.5 million equestrian estate.

Montana: A private lodge at the Yellowstone Club, valued at $29 million, offering access to exclusive ski slopes and remote wilderness.

Though Gates has pledged to give away the majority of his fortune, he acknowledges the irony of his real estate footprint. “My homes are gigantic,” he’s said. “I can’t imagine living anywhere smaller.”

TRAVEL Gates enjoys traveling to learn about different cultures, economies, and global challenges. He describes his 1993 trip to Tanzania, Kenya, and Zaire with Melinda as life-changing, inspiring them to start their foundation earlier than planned.

Gates travels extensively for foundation work, visiting countries across Africa, Asia, and other regions to assess health and development programs. His 2023 trip to India included visits to Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Gates has appeared in numerous documentaries, films, and television programs:

1. Netflix Series: 

Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (2019) - A three-part documentary series

What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates (2024) - A five-episode series exploring AI, climate change, income inequality, and other global challenges

2. Major Documentaries: 

Numerous appearances in technology and business documentaries

Featured in films about Microsoft, computing history, and philanthropy

3. Television Appearances:

Regular appearances on news programs and talk shows

Interviews on major networks discussing technology and global health issues.

4. Other Media:

Frequent speaker at TED Talks and major conferences

Active on social media and his blog Gates Notes

YouTube channel with educational content

ACHIEVEMENTS 

Co-founded Microsoft, one of the most influential tech companies in history

Became the world’s youngest billionaire at the time

Built one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world

Helped revolutionize personal computing

Regularly named among the world’s most influential people

Sources (1) VN Express (2) Dialect Blog (3) ILRI (4) Time (5) Denison Forum

Tim Berners-Lee

NAME Tim Berners-Lee

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Tim Berners-Lee is famous for inventing the World Wide Web, revolutionizing the way information is shared and accessed on the internet.

BIRTH Tim Berners-Lee was born on June 8, 1955, in London, England. The same year as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

FAMILY BACKGROUND He is the son of Mary Lee Woods, a mathematician, and Conway Berners-Lee, a mathematician and computer scientist. They met while working on the first commercial computer at the University of Manchester.

He has three younger siblings; his brother, Mike, is a professor of ecology and climate change management.

CHILDHOOD Growing up in London, Berners-Lee showed an early interest in electronics and computers. 

EDUCATION He attended Sheen Mount Primary School and then Emanuel School in London.

Berners-Lee studied physics at Queen's College, Oxford University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1976. He continued his education at The Queen's College, completing a master's degree in physics in 1978.

CAREER RECORD After completing his education, Berners-Lee worked as a software engineer at Plessey Telecommunications, where he wrote typesetting software. He then moved toHere's his resume.

Here's his resume:

CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (1980-1993): Worked as a software engineer at CERN in Switzerland. Here, the need to share information efficiently among researchers from various countries led him to conceive the World Wide Web in 1989.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (1994-Present): Founded the W3C at MIT, a consortium dedicated to maintaining and extending web standards to ensure an open and interoperable Web for all. He currently serves as its Director.

MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) (Present): Holds the position of Senior Researcher at CSAIL, continuing his work on Web technologies and advocating for a healthy digital future.

Inrupt (Tech Startup) (Present): Co-founded Inrupt, a tech startup aiming to empower individuals with control over their online data.

APPEARANCE Berners-Lee is often seen with a modest and unassuming appearance, reflecting his focus on his work rather than outward appearance.

Tim Berners-Lee 2005

FASHION He typically dresses casually, preferring comfort over style.

CHARACTER Berners-Lee is known for his humility, creativity, and vision. He is deeply passionate about the potential of the internet to empower people and advance knowledge.

SENSE OF HUMOUR While Berners-Lee is known for his serious demeanor, he has occasionally displayed a dry wit and sense of humor in interviews and public appearances.

RELATIONSHIPS Love and the Web seem to have blossomed for Tim Berners-Lee around the same time. In 1990, he tied the knot with Nancy Carlson, a fellow computer whiz working for the World Health Organization in Switzerland. They had two kids together, but alas, their paths diverged in 2011. 

Three years later, Berners-Lee found love again, this time with Rosemary Leith, a Canadian internet whiz-kid herself. They even got hitched at the posh St. James's Palace in London – not bad for a bloke who revolutionized the way we communicate!

He maintains close relationships with colleagues and collaborators in the technology and academic communities.

MONEY AND FAME Despite his significant contributions to technology, Berners-Lee has remained relatively modest and has not sought personal wealth or fame.

The web’s original source code was auctioned as an NFT by Tim Berners‑Lee, at Sotheby’s London, during 23–30 June 2021, and sold for over $5.4 million. Proceeds were used to support charitable initiatives backed by Berners‑Lee and his wife, Rosemary Leith.

FOOD AND DRINK Berners-Lee's preferences in food and drink are not widely documented, but he is known to value simple and healthy options.

MUSIC AND ARTS While Berners-Lee's primary focus has been on technology, he appreciates the role of music and art in enriching human culture and expression. 

He has little knowledge of pop culture was profound. When he met his wife Rosemary, she could scarcely believe that Tim had no idea who Bruce Springsteen was. (1)

LITERATURE Berners-Lee has cited various works of literature and philosophy as sources of inspiration for his ideas about the World Wide Web and its potential impact on society.

NATURE Berners-Lee has expressed concern about environmental issues and has advocated for using technology to address challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS In his free time, Berners-Lee enjoys hiking, photography, and spending time with his family.

SCIENCE AND MATHS As a physicist and computer scientist, Berners-Lee has a deep understanding of science and mathematics, which informed his development of the World Wide Web. The NeXT Computer below was used by Berners-Lee at CERN and became the world's first web server.

By Coolcaesar at the English-language Wikipedia

Imagine you're stuck at CERN, the giant atom-smasher in Switzerland. You're surrounded by brilliant boffins all noodling around on their computers, but sharing information between them is a right palaver. That's where Tim Berners-Lee, a bloke with a name that sounds like a law firm, comes in. In 1990, this chap hatches this bonkers idea he calls the "WorldWideWeb" – no spaces, must be important.

Here's the gist: imagine text that's all joined up, like those old choose-your-own-adventure books. Click on a bit, and whoosh! You're off to a whole new page, a whole new world of information. Berners-Lee and his mate, a Belgian fellow named Robert Cailliau, wrote it all down in a proposal on November 12, 1990 – the birth certificate of the web, if you will.

Luckily for us all, Berners-Lee wasn't entirely enamored with his first stab at a name for his revolutionary invention. 'Information Mesh' was briefly considered, then wisely discarded. It sounded suspiciously like 'Information Mess,' which wouldn't exactly inspire confidence in casual web surfers. No, Berners-Lee needed something snappier, something that hinted at the boundless potential lurking just a click away. Thankfully, 'World Wide Web' stuck."

The web began to peek out into the wider world in 1991. It started cautiously, a shy handshake between research institutions, spreading first on floppy disks – yes, floppy disks! Imagine the entire internet crammed onto a single, gloriously bendable disk. Sadly, that particular relic of the web's infancy seems to have gone missing, a victim of overflowing filing cabinets or perhaps an overzealous office tidy.

The first web page went live on August 6, 1991. Its first webpage a friendly guide explaining how to navigate this brave new digital landscape. 

Even Berners-Lee, the man who brought it all to life, has a minor quibble with his creation. Those double forward slashes at the beginning of URLs? Apparently, a completely unnecessary addition that, in his own words, 'was totally unnecessary.' But hey, even geniuses are allowed a tiny misstep or two."

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Religion wasn't quite as clear-cut for Berners-Lee. Raised Anglican, he went rogue in his youth and became, well, a Unitarian Universalist (UU, for those keeping score). When someone inevitably asked the big question – you know, the God one – Berners-Lee's answer was a bit of a paradox: "Not in the sense of most people, I'm atheist and Unitarian Universalist." 

Perhaps that explains his decision to give away his web invention to the world, free as the air we breathe. Just like his church welcomes everyone, Berners-Lee wanted the web to be a global playground, accessible to all.

SCANDAL Berners-Lee has largely avoided scandal throughout his career, maintaining a reputation for integrity and professionalism.

Asa an undergraduate at Oxford, Berners-Lee climbed on to the Queens College roof to decorate its clock tower with underwear. He and his fellow students also inscribed a well-known mathematical formula on to the building. (1)

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Berners-Lee prioritizes his health and physical fitness, recognizing the importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle.

HOMES Berners-Lee has lived and worked in various locations throughout his career, including Oxford, England, and Geneva, Switzerland.

TRAVEL Berners-Lee has extensively traveled the world promoting the Web and its potential. He has spoken at conferences, participated in discussions, and met with policymakers globally to advocate for an open and accessible internet.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA As a leading figure in the digital age, Berners-Lee has made frequent appearances in media. He has given interviews, participated in documentaries and talks, and voiced his concerns about the future of the Web.

ACHIEVEMENTS Invented the World Wide Web: Revolutionized global communication and information access by creating the World Wide Web.

Developed Web Foundations: Established the groundwork for core web technologies like HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Founded the W3C: Championed the open and collaborative development of the Web through the W3C.

Knighthood: Recognized by Queen Elizabeth II for his innovative contributions, he received a knighthood in 2004.

Turing Award: Honored with the Turing Award, the highest distinction in computer science, for creating the Web.

Numerous Accolades: Received countless awards and recognitions for his groundbreaking achievements.

Source: (1) The Mail on Sunday