Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs was a foundational figure in modern technology whose product philosophy fused engineering discipline with liberal arts and industrial design. In 1976, alongside Steve Wozniak, Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in his parents Los Altos garage, commercializing the Apple II as one of the earliest successful mass-produced microcomputers.

In 1984, Jobs spearheaded the development and launch of the original Macintosh, popularizing the graphical user interface, bitmap graphics, and the computer mouse. Following an internal power struggle with CEO John Sculley in 1985, Jobs left Apple to establish NeXT Computer, where his team built the NeXTSTEP object-oriented operating system and workstation architecture—the technology that would later serve as the direct foundation for macOS and iOS.

During his time away from Apple, Jobs also acquired Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Division in 1986, creating Pixar Animation Studios. Under his majority ownership and guidance, Pixar produced Toy Story (1995), the world first fully computer-animated feature film. Upon Apple acquisition of NeXT in 1997, Jobs returned to lead Apple through one of the most celebrated corporate turnarounds in business history, launching the iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad.