Steve Kirsch
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Steven T. Kirsch invented and owns a patent on the optical mouse. After bringing multiple successful startup companies through IPO and corporate buy-out, he became a multi-millionaire.
As a 12 year old student, he became fascinated with a programmable calculator. An empathetic instructor at a Computer Learning Center introduced him to the IBM 360, and within a year, the youngster wound up sneaking into a computer lab at UCLA, where Vinton Cerf and his team were working on the fledgling ARPANET, and welcomed him with open arms. Kirsch was soon programming an email system and parts of an operating system.
At the suggestion of Cerf, Kirsch matriculated at MIT, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree and master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science in 1980.
He founded Mouse Systems Corporation in 1982. After he left the company, he co-founded Frame Technology Corp. in 1986 to market the FrameMaker publishing software. After Frame was acquired by Adobe Systems, he founded a Web portal company, Infoseek Corporation, in 1994. After Infoseek was acquired by Disney, he founded Propel Software Corporation.
He used part of his fortune to set up a $75M charitable fund and became an philanthropist. He has also used some of his fortune to sue people who send junk faxes.
External links
- His own website (http://www.skirsch.com/)
- His company's website (http://www.propel.com/)
- A profile on him (http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/publicfeature/aug00/prof.html)