Mark Zuckerberg … This name is known to almost everyone who has access to the Internet. Who is he? A programmer, businessman, philanthropist, family man and just a good guy who, at his relatively young age, has achieved what many have been pursuing for decades. This article will tell the biography of Mark Zuckerberg, the success story of his brainchild called Facebook, as well as interesting facts from his personal life.
early years
The future billionaire was born on May 14, 1984 in the American city of White Plains, in a family of doctors. In his family, Mark was far from the only child. He also has three sisters: Randy, Donna and Ariel.
At 10, young Mark Zuckerberg realized that he wanted to devote his life to programming. It was at this age that his parents bought him his first computer, at which he subsequently spent days on end. At first he wrote rather primitive programs, but over time, his skills began to improve.
First successes
In high school, Zuckerberg created his own strategy game called "Risk", and even then Microsoft representatives drew attention to him, who offered him to work at home. Due to the fact that Mark was a minor guy who had not yet graduated from school, the deal did not take place.
The next project of the future co-creator of Facebook was the Synapse program, which he wrote with his friend. This software worked on the basis of the Winamp audio player. It analyzed the musical tastes of the audience and showed a selection of similar compositions.
Study at harvard
This may surprise someone, but programming was far from Mark's only hobby. At the time of entering a higher educational institution, he was engaged in fencing, studied ancient languages, and also devoted a lot of time to mathematics. Oddly enough, but at Harvard, he decided to enter the Department of Psychology. It was at this university that Zuckerberg began his journey to success.
Facebook creation
While studying at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea of creating a website where students could communicate online. It is clear that to create such a large-scale project alone is very problematic, so he enlisted the support of his comrades Dustin Moskvits, Andrew McCallum and Chris Hughes. Soon they were joined by Eduardo Saverin, who sponsored this project. After a while there was a conflict with the latter, which could only be resolved in the courtroom.
The main reason for the popularity of Facebook has become its convenience. Students could organize themselves in groups and areas that already existed in their educational institutions. They had the opportunity to add their photos and any personal information - from their favorite hobbies to love preferences. The company of Mark Zuckerberg notes two main differences between Facebook and other popular social networks. Firstly, real people here are looking for exactly the same people. Secondly, on this site you can choose which user groups your data can be accessed - only to guys from the university or to absolutely all visitors to the site, only to people from your city or, for example, to all fans of Frank Sinatra, etc.
The social network needed a good promotion, which went to a major entrepreneur Peter Thiel. As a result, such a promotion led to the incredible popularity of Facebook. Already in 2006, this site entered the TOP of the most popular sites in the United States.
So who is the author?
The new social network, which was originally created for Harvard students, has gained great popularity outside this educational institution. But not everything was as smooth as it might seem at first glance. Two brothers, who studied with Mark at the same faculty, accused him of stealing ideas. In part, this is really true, since earlier they invited him as a programmer to create such a site. They dragged Zuckerberg through the courts, but did not win a single case. As a result, he was paid compensation in the amount of $ 45 million.
The wife of Mark Zuckerberg
In addition to the success story of Facebook, many are interested in the family life of the creator of this site. We could not ignore this, and therefore we present to your attention several facts about Priscilla Chan, the wife of Mark Zuckerberg.
- Priscilla achieves her goals on her own. At the graduation Quincy High School in 2003, she was instructed to deliver a farewell speech. In America, only those students who showed themselves well during the educational process are awarded this honor. After graduating from school, she entered Harward at the Faculty of Biology. In the period from 2007 to 2008 she was engaged in teaching activities. After these events, the future wife of Mark entered the College of Medicine at the Department of Pediatrics, which she successfully graduated shortly before her marriage.
- This may surprise someone, but Mark Zuckerberg met his wife before he even created Facebook and became a famous billionaire. Their first meeting took place at a university party when they … They stood in line for the toilet.
- Marc and Priscilla do not like pathos and glamor. In their free time, they prefer to walk in the park, play bocce (a game reminiscent of bowling and petanque), and also spend evenings at board games. In addition, many journalists have repeatedly criticized the Zuckerberg family for dressing tastelessly and lacking style.
- Priscilla is the initiator of the organ donation program on Facebook, and in general is actively involved in charity work with her spouse.
- Before the wedding, Mark and Priscilla met for almost 10 years. When they decided to tie their lives in marriage, they tried to make sure that this news did not get into the media. Moreover, they did not even talk about this with their relatives. Priscilla invited them to a party, and called the reception of a scientific degree the reason for the holiday. Only during the celebration did everyone learn that this couple had a wedding.
Children of Mark Zuckerberg
At the time of this writing, Mark and Priscilla are the parents of two daughters - Maxim (or as her parents call Max) and Augustus. The first was born in 2015, and the second - two years later.
Zuckerberg - Rockefeller's grandson ?!
In 2017, the famous banker David Rockefeller left our world. Almost immediately after this event, the world community was stirred by an incredible rumor: Mark Zuckerberg is actually the grandson of David Rockefeller, and his real name is Jacob Michael Greenberg!
According to unofficial news sources, the story of the creation of Facebook is an ordinary fiction, invented to avert eyes. According to them, the whole story with a student from the working class, who, together with friends, created a multi-million dollar social network, was created so that young people believe that they can succeed from scratch. According to these sources, Mark Zuckerberg is just a pawn in the hands of more powerful people, and Facebook is the global surveillance system created by the CIA. The same media called Zuckerberg the great-grandson of Maurice Greenberg, a well-known American entrepreneur and owner of the largest insurance companies, CEO AIG and VC Starr.
At the moment, these unofficial sources have not provided any evidence that the above information is true. As we already mentioned, Mark Zuckerberg was born into a family of ordinary doctors. His father was a dentist and his mother was a psychiatrist.
"Social network"
In 2010, a feature film about Mark Zuckerberg called "Social Network" was released. The director of the picture was David Fincher, and the scriptwriter was Aaron Sorkin. The synopsis of the picture is as follows:
At the center of the story is a 21-year-old student named Mark. He studies at prestigious Harvard University and is in a relationship with girlfriend Erica Albright. Mark refers to the type of people who feel good only in the environment of people like themselves. The strangeness of his character and obsession with his studies eventually led to the girl leaving him. After these events, the protagonist’s neighbor invited him to compare photographs of university girls online. Mark, wanting revenge on his ex-lover, approved this idea and successfully implemented it. After this success, students from the prestigious Harvard Club pay attention to Mark, who offer him an interesting project. But the main character already has his own idea and it is much more global.
The opinion of the creator of Facebook about the film "Social Network"
Despite the fact that initially Mark Zuckerberg stated that he would not watch David Fincher’s tape, he still got acquainted with it. The creator of Facebook praised the film for the accuracy of everyday details (such as T-shirts and slippers worn by the protagonist), but criticized it in other aspects. First, he noted that a character named Eric Albright actually never existed. Secondly, he did not like the idea that the main character created a social network only because of his ex-girlfriend. According to Zuckerberg, this is contrary to reality, since he created Facebook only out of interest in his favorite business.
Despite the statements of the real Mark, the author of the plot Aaron Sorkin, whose script is an adaptation of Ben Metzrich’s novel “Random Billionaires: Creating Facebook, a Story about Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, ” claimed that the events of the picture were not invented. On top of that, he noted that Erica Albright, played by actress Rooney Mara, is a real woman whose real name has been changed.
One of the producers of "Social Network" and did say that this picture is nothing more than a metaphor through which director David Fincher showed how people communicate with each other. He also thanked Mark himself for allowing them to use events from his life as the basis for the film.
