1955-

American Computer Pioneer

Steve Jobs helped revolutionize the personal computer industry, creating the innovative Macintosh computer and developing Apple Computer, Inc., into a multibillion dollar company.

Steve Jobs was born in 1955. Orphaned as an infant, he was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, and grew up in the California suburbs of Mountain View and Los Altos, which would later become the heart of Silicon Valley. While in high school, Jobs was hired as a summer employee at the Hewlett-Packard electronics firm in Palo Alto. There he met Stephen Wozniak (1950- ), an engineering whiz kid. Wozniak was in the process of developing his "blue box," an illegal device that allowed a user to make free long-distance calls. Jobs helped Wozniak sell his device, forging a partnership that would several years later change the face of the home-computer industry.

In 1972 Jobs entered Reed College in...