Medalla

How a California farm built Silicon Valley

The grand history of Stanford University and its outsized impact on the world: how a university founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford and his wife Jane in memory of their late son became the intellectual engine of Silicon Valley and one of the most influential institutions on Earth. Trace the founding story and the "Stanford spirit" of practical, entrepreneurial learning; Frederick Terman encouraging his students to start companies (Hewlett and Packard in a Palo Alto garage) and effectively fathering Silicon Valley; the university research that seeded the internet, from early networking to the birth of Google in a Stanford dorm; the endless roster of world-changing companies founded by alumni (HP, Google, Yahoo, Netflix, Instagram, Nike and more); its scientific and medical breakthroughs and Nobel laureates; the campus itself and its distinctive sandstone architecture; and the ongoing debate about the university's wealth, influence and role in the tech economy. Keep it a genuine, well-grounded history a curious adult would find fascinating — celebratory but honest about the institution's scale and its critiques.