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![The Gods of Geek]()
The ancient Greeks knew who was responsible for the things around them: Zeus was the god of thunder, Apollo was the god of music, and Poseidon was god of the sea. If technological wonders such as gadgets and Web sites had existed back them, they might have gotten their own gods, too. Today, we know that these products are the result of inspired work by mere mortals. But the best ones still have an air of magic and mystery about them — which is why we're nominating eleven remarkable mortals to our Pantheon of Geek Gods.![God of the Internet]()
Vint CerfNo Al Gore jokes, please: Along with a handful of other computer scientists, Vint Cerf really did invent the Internet. He began working on it in 1969, when it was an obscure Department of Defense project. More than forty years later, as Google's vice president/chief evangelist, this winner of the National Medal of Technology and the Presidential Medal of Freedom is still shaping the future of the Net. Among his current projects is the Interplanetary Internet, which is exactly what it sounds like.![God of Community]()
Mark ZuckerbergIn January 2004, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg began building a Web site designed to let his classmates connect online. It was an instant campus hit, and usage soon spread to other schools. In 2006, "Zuck" opened up Facebook to non-students; today, it's got 350 million users, giving it a population greater than that of the U.S. Social-networking upstart Twitter may generate more buzz right now, but it's Facebook that helps everyone from geeks to grandmas keep track of the important relationships in their lives.![God of Knowledge]()
Jimmy Wales An online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, consisting entirely of articles contributed by volunteers? Jimmy Wales was skeptical about the idea — and as cofounder of Wikipedia in 2001, he was one of the guys trying to make it work. Millions of articles and dozens of international editions later, Wikipedia has changed how the planet shares information of every sort. No longer a doubter, Wales has made cheerleading Wikipedia's massive community of contributors into his life's work.![God of Style]()
Jonathan IveApple cofounder Steve Jobs is as synonymous with the company he leads as any CEO on the planet. But for more than a decade, Jonathan Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, has been responsible for the sleek look and feel that's defined the personality of such megahits as the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone. Among the British-born Ive's fans: iPod owner Queen Elizabeth II, who named him as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006.![Goddess of Usability]()
Marissa MayerSoon after Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded Google in 1998, they hired a young computer scientist named Marissa Mayer. She took on oversight of the fledgling search engine and other Google products that followed, such as Gmail and Google Maps — and she deserves as much credit as anyone for preserving the obsessively minimalist Google look and feel. When the company adds a word to its sparse home page, it's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience Mayer who decides which existing word will go to keep the total at 28.![God of Coolness]()
J Allard One of Microsoft's major bright spots is its Xbox 360 gaming console, home to blockbuster titles such as Halo and the foundating of a full-blown entertainment ecosystem that's expanding to encompass movies, music, and more. The Geek God in charge of the Xbox from a technical standpoint is Chief Experience Officer and Chief Technology Officer J Allard. (No period after the J, please: He legally changed his name from James.) Allard is also rumored to be heading up work on a hush-hush project involving a design for dual-screened tablet computers.![God of Giving It Away]()
Craig Newmark Back in 1995, San Francisco techie Craig Newmark started an e-mail list for his friends and dubbed it Craigslist. It morphed into a classified-ad site that grew wildly popular in the Bay Area and beyond. Rather than trying to turn Craigslist into an eBay-style goldmine, Newmark kept most listings free, creating one of the Web's most invaluable services — and spelling trouble for newspapers who were used to fat profits from classifieds. Craigslist circa early 2010 is shockingly unchanged; the ever-humble Newmark proudly claims the title not of CEO but customer service representative.![Gods of Rock]()
Alex Rigopulos/Eran Egozy In 1995, recent MIT graduates Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos founded Harmonix, a company specializing in music-themed video games. Their first title sold an underwhelming 300 copies. Guitar Hero, Harmonix's 2005 play-your-own-rock game, did a wee bit better: It and multiple sequels have generated more than $2 billion in revenues to date. Harmonix, which is now owned by MTV, left the Guitar Hero franchise in 2007. It's now concentrating on the similar Rock Band series, which has already racked up more than $1 billion in sales.![God of Portable Gizmos]()
Jeff HawkinsToday's mobile phone is a powerful computing and communications device that happens to fit in your pocket. Nobody did more to make that happen than Jeff Hawkins. His 1996 PalmPilot was the first big-selling electronic organizer. And in 2002, he melded the PalmPilot with the cell phone to create the Treo, the first modern smartphone. Hawkins now heads a startup that's creating a new computing platform modeled on how the brain works. It hasn't had the impact of his two landmark gadgets, but you never know where it might lead.![God of Play]()
Shigeru MiyamotoNintendo's 1981 coin-operated arcade machine Donkey Kong introduced game lovers to its title ape, an intrepid plumber named Mario, and the talents of a young Nintendo designer named Shigeru Miyamoto. In the 29 years since then, just about everything about video games has changed — but Kong, Mario, and Miyamoto are still busy entertaining the world. One of the prime forces behind inventive Nintendo products such as the Wii console and DS handheld, Miyamoto continues to change people's perceptions of what video games can be.![God of Digital Imagery]()
John Knoll Thanks to the power of Adobe's Photoshop image-editing software, computers have changed photography forever. The 3D animation produced by special-effects houses like George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic have changed movies just as much. John Knoll has played a unique role in both revolutions: In the late 1980s, he helped his brother Thomas invent the software that became Photoshop, and for more than twenty years, he's been a leading contributor to ILM's amazing film effects. His latest project? A little picture called Avatar.The Pantheon of Geek Gods
A celebration of eleven legendary techies whose bright ideas are shaping our world. By Harry McCracken
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- The Pantheon of Geek Gods
