Few figures have shaped modern technology as profoundly as Steve Jobs. Born in 1955 in San Francisco and adopted as an infant, Jobs primarily grew up in Mountain View, California. He was a headstrong youth: rebellious as a child, bored throughout his school years, and directionless as a college student, dropping out within six months. But his challenging teen years were also instrumental in his future. A job with Hewlett-Packard introduced him to Steve Wozniak, and together they co-founded the Apple Computer Company in the garage of Jobs’ family home in 1976. They went on to revolutionize personal computing with the Apple II computer and, later, the Macintosh.

Even after a tumultuous exit from Apple in 1985, Jobs flourished, founding NeXT and co-founding Pixar. He returned to Apple in 1997, and with iconic products including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, revived the company and changed personal electronics forever. Jobs’ relentless pursuit of excellence earned him a reputation as a demanding leader — and a creative genius. He championed simplicity and deeply valued intuition, considering it a cornerstone of creativity and innovation. After almost a decade of a closely guarded battle with cancer, Jobs died at age 56 in his home in Palo Alto, California.