You are the proton of my electron: love and marriage in IT

Today is February 14th, which means all progressive humanity is  celebrating Computer Day . Less advanced relatives honor  St. Valentine . We suggest taking the best from both sides. Under the cut history of people from the world of high technology, who once found each other.

Bill and Melinda Gates

Their story is a typical office romance. The future Mrs. Gates grew up in Dallas in the family of an aerospace engineer and a housewife. Melinda graduated from Duke University, in five years receiving a bachelor's degree in programming and economics and an MBA. In 1987, she joined Microsoft as a product manager. Bill Gates once drew attention to a smart employee and called her out on a date when he met at a parking lot. Bill and Melinda had been dating for seven years before getting married in 1994 in Hawaii. By the way, Western journalists claimed that the marriage contract between the spouses guaranteed payments of $ 10 million for each child born by Melinda. The couple has three children. Spouses found the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has $ 41.3 billion, which the spouses are sending to fight polio and malaria, to experiment in the field of education and to help African people and migrants.

Stephen and Lauren Jobs

Lauren Powell-Jobs is the second wife of Steve Jobs and the main heir to his estate. They met in 1990, after the famous speech of the founder of Apple at Stanford Business School. Jobs himself told about his meeting with his future wife: “ I sat in the car in the parking lot, the key was in the ignition, and then I thought:“ if this day were the last in my life, would I spend it at a business meeting, or with this woman? ” Then I got out of the car, crossed the parking lot and asked her if she wanted to have dinner with me. She agreed, we went to the city, and since then have not parted ... ".

Steve Jobs married Lauren Powell on March 18, 1991. The wedding was led by a Zen monk, mentor and close friend of the groom Kobun Tino Otogawa. The couple has a son and two daughters. Jobs also has an illegitimate daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs) from a relationship with artist Krisann Brennan. Initially, he denied his paternity, but later admitted it. After the death of Steve Jobs, the public and the media are paying more attention to Lauren's personal life. She inherited $ 6 billion from her husband, ranking 42nd on the Forbes list of richest Americans. Many note the active donations of Lauren Jobs to charitable organizations and the development of social and educational projects.

Linus and Tove Torvalds

Dad Linux has been happily married to his soulmate for over 20 years. They met in the fall of 1993, when Linus was 24 years old. Tove, by the way, is the six-time champion of Finland in karate. The couple has three daughters: Patricia Miranda, Daniela Yolanda and Celeste Amanda.

Jack Ma and Zhang Ying

Together with the future founder of the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, Jack Ma Zhang Ying studied at the Pedagogical Institute of Chinese Hangzhou. They officially formalized their relationship shortly after graduation, in the late 80s. But at first they did not think about business - they wanted to realize themselves in pedagogy. Later, both hit the top ten teachers in Hangzhou. In 1995, they left the profession for the sake of business. Ma launched his first Internet company, the China Yellow Pages directory. Four years later, it was Alibaba's time. Zhang supported him: she worked in the company as a political consultant. True, she herself admits that she mainly helped her husband by preparing dinners for his ongoing meetings with partners.
Zhang never hid her prudence. She says that Jack Ma didn’t seem handsome to her in her youth, but she immediately realized that he could do something that the handsome could not.

The wife's exactingness spurs Ma all her life. A couple of years after the launch of Alibaba, she asked how much his company earned. In response, Ma raised only his index finger. Zhang said: "10 million yuan ($ 1.6 million)?" Ma said no. Then Zhang suggested that we are talking about 100 million yuan. But Ma did not confirm this either. He said: 1 million yuan ($ 160,000). Zhang froze with a displeased grimace, but when Ma added “a day,” she felt relieved. Until 2002, she worked in Alibaba's top management, and then her husband gathered his strength and told her that the children needed her more than the company. Becoming a housewife was a blow for her, but over time she made her husband’s decision and now self-actualizes exclusively in the kitchen.

Eugene and Natalya Kaspersky

This duet can no longer be considered a couple, since they have not been together for a long time. They have different families, different businesses. Nevertheless, this is a great example of how like-minded people are able to work miracles in business and life. Eugene Kaspersky met Natalya in a holiday home in January 1987, when she was 20 years old. Six months later, they got married. In 1989, being in her fifth year at the institute, Natalya Kasperskaya gave birth to her first child, Maxim, and in 1991 her second son, Ivan. After six years of maternity leave, Natalya entered the position of an ordinary seller in the company of her husband. Over time, having successively traveled the career ladder, she took over as CEO. Later, all rights to the company were transferred to Eugene Kaspersky. The couple divorced in 1998.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

The first meeting of Mark and Priscilla took place more than 10 years ago at a student party at Harvard University. The couple met in line at the toilet. As Priscilla herself admitted, Mark Zuckerberg at that moment looked like a real nerd, and in his hand he had a glass with an itchy joke about beer printed on it. They met for almost 10 years before they officially legalized their relationship. Today the couple has a child. The family does not hide the fact that before Priscilla managed to get pregnant, they lost the baby three times. Mark himself posted such information on his Facebook page. He explained his openness by the fact that, looking at their example, other couples who still can’t have children will not lose hope and they will succeed.

I would also like to mention Pavel Durov and his other half, but the information about the personal life of the founder of Vkontakte and Telegram is so contradictory that it remains only to sigh and repeat the eternal: " Durov, return the wall ." Well, as they say, love each other!