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Zuckerberg was a voracious reader. At the academy he excelled at
languages, later saying he learned to read and write French, Hebrew,
Latin, and ancient Greek. He was known to recite lines from epic Greek
poems such as
The Iliad
, written by the author Homer around 1250 BCE.
At Exeter, Zuckerberg earned a diploma in classical studies and won aca-
demic prizes in astronomy, math, and physics.
Although computers remained central to his life, Zuckerberg had
other interests. He joined the fencing team and soon became captain. He
was later named the team’s most valuable player. Zuckerberg described
his love for fencing on his enrollment applica-
tion to Harvard University. When answering a
question about his most meaningful activity, he
wrote, “Amidst a hectic week of work, fencing
has always proven to be the perfect medium; for
it is both social and sport, mental and athletic,
and controlled yet sometimes undisciplined.”
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Five years later, as the popularity of Facebook
was increasing, Harvard writing teacher Eliza-
beth L. Greenspan analyzed the essay answer:
“Zuckerberg seems to be offering up ‘fencing’ as
a [symbol] for himself, that Zuckerberg is—or imagines himself to be—
both social and sport, mental and athletic, and controlled yet sometimes
undisciplined.”
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A Million-Dollar Idea
Whatever the psychology behind Zuckerberg’s essay, Harvard accepted
his application. But first he had to finish his last year of high school at Ex-
eter. As a senior in 2002, Zuckerberg was required to submit a final proj-
ect for graduation that would be graded on quality and originality. How-
ever, Zuckerberg did not have any project ideas. While he was discussing
this problem with his friend Adam D’Angelo, the MP3 music player on his
computer played the last song in his playlist and stopped. Zuckerberg felt
the MP3 player should know what he wanted to hear next and continue
playing. Thus, a school project idea was born.
“Amidst a hectic week of
work, fencing has always
proven to be the perfect
medium; for it is both social
and sport, mental and
athletic, and controlled yet
sometimes undisciplined.”
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—Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
founder.
