Harvard awarded Mark Zuckerberg an honorary degree in 2017

In November 2005, Mark Zuckerberg officially left Harvard

Mark Zuckerberg enrolled in Harvard in 2002 and studied computer science and psychology. He officially dropped out in 2005 to run Facebook, now Meta. When he returned to campus to officially drop out, he met with professors and students to recruit programmers for the company.

The early success of Facebook made Mark Zuckerberg a college campus celebrity

Within 24 hours of launching in 2004, more than 1,200 Harvard students signed up to the platform, which quickly expanded to other Ivy League and Boston-area schools within months. By year's end, Zuckerberg left Harvard to run the company in California.

Mark Zuckerberg met his wife, Priscilla Chan, at Harvard

In Zuckerberg's 2017 commencement speech at Harvard, Zuckerberg said his best memory at Harvard was meeting Priscilla Chan in line for the bathroom at a party. In that speech, he said he told her, "I'm going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly." The pair got married in 2012 and now have three kids together.

Facebook settled a lawsuit over Zuckerberg allegedly stealing the original idea for the company for $65M

While at Harvard, three students (Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra) approached Mark Zuckerberg with the idea for a platform exclusively for Harvard students called ConnectU. Those students sued Facebook, alleging that Zuckerberg stole the idea from the trio.

Mark Zuckerberg has been a huge advocate for open source technology

Open source technology is software, hardware, or code that's publicly accessible for viewing or editing. Zuckerberg has been an advocate for open source since 2003 and said he wouldn't have been able to build Facebook without open source code.

Mark Zuckerberg's dad is a dentist—but he originally wanted to work with computers

Mark Zuckerberg grew up in Dobbs Ferry in Westchester County, about 25 miles north of New York City. His father, Ed Zuckerberg, owned a practice connected to Mark's childhood home, but he was always fascinated by computers. Ed's family was the first in his neighborhood to have a color television, and Ed was an early adopter of computing technology—something that he passed on to Mark. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Read Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg's $45B letter to their daughter

After giving birth to their daughter, the Zuckerbergs launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2015. The pair announced the charitable organization's creation in a letter addressed to their daughter. The Zuckerbergs pledged 99% of their earnings from Facebook over the course of their lives to advance education, cure disease, and transform public policy, something the letter says is a commitment to their daughter's future. The organization has since shifted its focus to artificial intelligence and science.

Mark Zuckerberg's 2024 rebrand was dubbed the 'Zuckassaince'

Zuckerberg, like Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, wore the same, simple T-shirts and outfits for most of his early career to decrease the decisions he'd have to make on a daily basis. In 2024, Zuckerberg started wearing chunky gold chains around his neck and oversized T-shirts with slogans on them. Some say the "Zuckassaince" is an effort to rebrand Meta as a futuristic company, not just an old social media company for millennials.

Conan's 2000 commencement speech offers comfort and humor to young Harvard graduates

In the spring of 2000, famous late-night talk show host and comedian Conan O'Brien gave a hilarious, thoughtful speech to the graduating class at Harvard, where he graduated from in 1985. He warns that once adult life begins, any stupid mistakes made by a Harvard grad will be severely mocked. He also recounts his post-grad failures and how important they were in his success. The speech has been noted ever since as a classic example of both wisdom and foolishness.

Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress eight times between 2018 and 2024

Zuckerberg testified in Congress for the first time in 2018 over Facebook's privacy violations and its failure to detect Russian interference on the app during the 2016 election. Since then, Zuckerberg has appeared a total of eight times to defend Meta against privacy violations, child safety, and more. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Randi Zuckerberg, Mark's sister, was Meta's first marketing director

Randi is two years older than Mark and also attended Harvard before working in advertising. Before joining Facebook, Randi worked in digital advertising at Ogilvy & Mather. In 2018, Randi attracted criticism for saying Holocaust deniers shouldn't be banned on Facebook. She's also previously been criticized for her own seemingly contradictory sentiments on Facebook's privacy rules.

Mark Zuckerberg attended one of the most prestigious prep schools in America

Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire is one of the most prestigious private preparatory schools in the US. Zuckerberg attended the academy from 2000 to 2002 and was captain of the fencing team.

Mark Zuckerberg owns a cattle ranch in Hawaii

Zuckerberg owns a cattle ranch on Kauai, where he says his goal is to raise the best beef in the world. Zuckerberg has said that he raises Wagyu and Angus and feeds them macadamia meal and beer, both of which are produced on the cattle ranch. In January 2024, Zuckerberg said his daughter thought his full-time job was cattle ranching.

Mark Zuckerberg and Jesse Eisenberg met during Eisenberg's 'Saturday Night Live' monologue

When Jesse Eisenberg hosted "SNL" in 2011 ahead of an Academy Awards appearance for his portrayal of Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," Zuckerberg actually came on stage. That was the first time the two met, and many viewers said the interaction was awkward. Eisenberg tried to meet Zuckerberg before filming "The Social Network," but his producers told him he couldn't for legal reasons.

Despite being a 'C' student in high school, Ray Dalio got his MBA from Harvard

Ray Dalio frequently says he was a poor student in high school and barely got into college. However, Dalio has said that he succeeded in college because he got to pick classes that interested him, like finance and economics. Dalio went on to earn his Master's in Business Administration from Harvard University in 1973.

In 2011, President Obama awarded Warren Buffett the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Buffett was awarded the medal for his success as an investor and commitment to philanthropy alongside author Maya Angelou, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Congressman John Lewis, among others. It’s perhaps the highest honor a civilian can receive.

Mark Zuckerberg, Katy Perry, and other celebrities have attended Burning Man

Burning Man is an expensive endeavor, most attractive and accessible to those with deep pockets and an interest in artistic endeavors. Therefore it’s no surprise the event attracts various famous innovators and entertainers, including the world's richest people.

Stanford and Harvard are among the universities producing the most startup founders

Not all startup founders are created equal. This data visualization of the universities that produce the most startup founders is based on the number of alumni who have raised venture capital funding for their companies. That means these alums had to do much more than put "entrepreneur" in their LinkedIn bio to be considered startup founders.

A look at Harvard University's endowment

​Harvard University holds the world's largest academic endowment, valued at $53.2B in fiscal year 2024. This official Harvard webpage explains how the endowment supports the university's mission, funding areas like financial aid, faculty positions, and research initiatives.

Warren Zevon's sardonic takes landed him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Warren Zevon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025. Political writer Andrew Walworth highlights Zevon's keen interest in international politics, which often found their way into his memorably wry lyrics.

In 2019, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman went viral for his on-stage criticism of the event

Speaking directly to an audience of billionaires and CEOs, Bregman broke from Davos norms by challenging elite comfort with inequality, arguing that fair taxation—not philanthropy—was the more honest solution, creating one of the Forum’s most widely shared moments.

Princeton University offers a free online bitcoin course

Want to understand bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? A free online course from Princeton University unpacks the details of bitcoin, from how it works to what distinguishes it from other currencies, to the security and anonymity associated with its use. Explore explainer videos, or take the course as a series of lessons.

In 2017, Yale renamed one of its colleges to honor Grace Hopper

Founded in 1933, the Calhoun College—one of Yale's 12 undergraduate residential colleges—was renamed to Grace Hopper College in honor of the woman who earned a master's degree and PhD in mathematics from the university in the 1930s. The change was also made to distance the school from white supremacist John C. Calhoun.

The Heisman Trophy has honored college football’s top player since 1935

Awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football, the Heisman Trophy has become iconic for its storied history, memorable acceptance speeches, and the success of many winners who went on to NFL stardom.

Teen who walked 6 miles to graduation receives college scholarship on the spot

Xavier Jones, a 14-year-old boy, set out to attend his eighth-grade graduation ceremony at Harris-Stowe State University, walking six miles in the hot sun. Inspired by his perseverance, LaTonia Collins Smith, the university's president, awarded him...

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'