It's not often that we get to experience someone changing the world in real time. Many artists, inventors, scientists, and creators aren't appreciated or revered in the way that they should be until well after their death. Steve Jobs was a rare exception. We were lucky enough to be able to witness him change the world in front of our eyes, and actually got to see some of the positive changes that resulted from his innovations. Jobs was a man who dreamed of giving people the ability to think and communicate with his Apple products, but he also gave users the ability to create and produce on their own.
So, who was Steve Jobs? How did he reach the peak of his career? Is the myth of building Apple in his garage true? What was his family like? What were the circumstances surrounding Steve Jobs death? What were his greatest accomplishments? What were his stranger quirks (for better or worse)? We gathered all of the greatest facts and stories about this brilliant innovator in order to paint a better picture of who Steve Jobs really is.
Jobs credits LSD for allowing him to clear his mind and begin to think differently. He claims that LSD helped him see the world more clearly, and believed that it was one of the best experiences of his life. In an interview with Business Insider, Jobs said: "Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life. LSD shows you that there's another side to the coin, and you can't remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It reinforced my sense of what was important - creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could."
For the most part, Steve Jobs was a pescetarian, but he often liked to experiment with his diet. One time, he tried eating only two foods - apples and carrots - for as long as he could. Another time, he experimented with being a fruitarian, and existed solely on fruit for a few weeks. He also tried being a vegan for awhile, and once even tried to avoid food entirely on a lengthy fast.
When Ashton Kutcher took on the role of Steve Jobs for the 2013 movie, Jobs, he tried going full-fruitarian and ended up in the hospital.
In 1979, George Lucas founded Lucasfilm's computer division. In '83, they hired John Lasseter, and in '84, he was partially finished with their first short film, titled The Adventures of André & Wally B. The company and its 44 employees fell on hard times around 1986, and Steve Jobs stepped in to buy the company from George Lucas for $10 million. He re-branded the company as Pixar, and with his financial support, Lasseter was able to make his directorial debut with Luxo Jr., which ended up being the first 3D CGI film to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Disney bought Pixar's name and properties in 2006. This $7 billion merger made Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder, and also promoted him to the board of trustees. In addition to running Apple and saving Pixar, he was also a silent partner on the board at Disney. Jobs sure was a busy guy!
In a mind-blowing series of events, 12-year-old Steve Jobs up the head of HP to talk computers with him. By the end of their phone call, he was offered an internship at the company.
The HP website tells the story like this: "When he was in eighth grade, Steve Jobs decided to build a frequency counter for a school project and needed parts. Someone suggested that he call Bill Hewlett. Finding a William Hewlett in the telephone book, the 12-year-old Jobs called and asked, "Is this the Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard?" "Yes," said Bill. Jobs made his request. Bill spent some time talking to him about his project. Several days later, Jobs went to HP and picked up a bag full of parts that Bill had put together for him. Subsequently, Jobs landed a summer job at HP. He later went on to co-found Apple Computer."
Steve Jobs' life story is one of those incredible rags-to-riches tales that seem almost too good to be true. He went from homeless and scrounging for food to a multi-billionaire in the span of a few decades.
He told the Stanford graduates during their 2005 commencement: “I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.”
