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Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York[10] to Karen and Edward Zuckerberg. He has three sisters, Randi, Donna, and Arielle.[2] Mark and three sisters, Randi, Donna, and Arielle, were brought up in Dobbs Ferry, New York.[2] Zuckerberg was raised Jewish, and had his bar mitzvah when he turned 13,[11][12] although he has since described himself as an atheist.[12][13]

At Ardsley High School he had excelled in the classics before in his junior year transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy, where Zuckerberg won prizes in science (math, astronomy and physics) and Classical studies (on his college application, Zuckerberg listed as non-English languages he could read and write: French, Hebrew, Latin, and ancient Greek) and was a fencing star and captain of the fencing team.[14][15][16][17] In college, he was known for reciting lines from epic poems such as The Iliad.[14]

At a party put on by his fraternity during his sophomore year, Zuckerberg met Priscilla Chan, and they have dated continuously, except for a brief period, since 2003. In September 2010, Zuckerberg invited Chan, now a medical student, to move into his rented Palo Alto house.[2] Zuckerberg studied Mandarin Chinese every day in preparation for the couple's visit in China in December 2010.[18][19] As of 2010[update], Facebook is blocked by that country's Internet firewall.[20]

Zuckerberg (right) with Robert Scoble in 2008.

On Zuckerberg's Facebook page, he listed his personal interests as "openness, making things that help people connect and share what's important to them, revolutions, information flow, minimalism".[21] Zuckerberg sees blue best because of red–green colorblindness; blue is also Facebook's dominant color.[22]

Software developer

Early years

Zuckerberg began using computers and writing software as a child in middle school. His father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990s, and later hired software developer David Newman to tutor him privately. Newman calls him a "prodigy," adding that it was "tough to stay ahead of him." Zuckerberg also took a graduate course in the subject at Mercy College near his home while he was still in high school. He enjoyed developing computer programs, especially communication tools and games. In one such program, since his father's dental practice was operated from their home, he built a software program he called "ZuckNet," which allowed all the computers between the house and dental office to communicate by pinging each other. It is considered a "primitive" version of AOL's Instant Messenger, which came out the following year.[2]

According to writer Jose Antonio Vargas, "some kids played computer games. Mark created them." Zuckerberg himself recalls this period: "I had a bunch of friends who were artists. They'd come over, draw stuff, and I'd build a game out of it." However, notes Vargas, Zuckerberg was not a typical "geek-klutz," as he later became captain of his prep school fencing team and earned a classics diploma. Napster founder Sean Parker, a close friend, notes that Zuckerberg was "really into Greek odysseys and all that stuff," recalling how he once quoted lines from the Latin epic poem Aeneid, by Virgil, during a Facebook product conference.[2]

During Zuckerberg's high school years, under the company name