Six Fascinating Facts About Steve Jobs You Might Not Know
Marking fifteen years since the passing of tech visionary Steve Jobs, we explore fascinating and inspiring facts about the man who changed the world.
Steve Jobs is often seen as a tech legend, the man who brought us the iPhone, iPad, and computers that changed our lives. Beyond the giant presentations and the famous black turtleneck, there were many surprising, inspiring, and sweet details in his life.
The Man Who Saved Pixar
Everyone associates Jobs with Apple, but few remember he was the central figure who turned the animation studio Pixar into an empire. In 1986, after leaving Apple, he bought a small graphics department from George Lucas and invested his own money. This gamble led to Toy Story, the first feature-length computer-animated film in history.
The Reunion with His Biological Family
Jobs was adopted as an infant by Clara and Paul Jobs. Later in life, he decided to search for his biological mother and discovered he had a sister he never knew, Mona Simpson, who became a successful novelist. The two formed a close and loving bond, with Jobs describing her as one of his best friends.
The Typography Lesson That Changed Design
When Jobs dropped out of Reed College, he didn't leave completely. He sat in on a typography and lettering course out of curiosity. Years later, when designing the first Macintosh, he used this knowledge to create a computer featuring gorgeous fonts and proportional spacing, forming the basis of modern graphic design.
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
A Salary of One Dollar a Year
When Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s to save it from collapse, he refused a massive salary. From 1997 until his retirement, his official base salary was just one dollar a year. For him, returning to Apple was about passion and a desire to build products that would change the world.
Daily Conversations with a Rival
Despite fierce competition between Apple and Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates shared mutual respect. In Jobs's later years, business rivalry gave way to friendship, with Gates visiting Jobs at home to talk about life, family, and the future of technology.
