Brendan Eich
Brendan Eich | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 4, 1961 United States |
| Occupation(s) | Software developer, tech industry leader |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Known for | Inventing the JavaScript programming language, co-founding Mozilla initiative and Brave Software |
Brendan Eich ( ; born July 4, 1961) is an American software developer and tech industry leader. He is best known for inventing the JavaScript programming language and co-founding the Mozilla initiative, including the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation. Eich held the position of chief technical officer at Mozilla Corporation before briefly stepping into the role of chief executive officer, a tenure that ended with his resignation following disputes related to his stance on same-sex marriage. Subsequently, he co-founded and assumed the CEO role at Brave Software.
Early life
Eich spent his formative years in Pittsburgh, Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Palo Alto, completing his high school education at Ellwood P. Cubberley High School in 1979. He obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from Santa Clara University and earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1985. His background includes Roman Catholic faith and Irish-German heritage.
His professional journey began at Silicon Graphics, where he dedicated seven years to developing operating system and networking software. Following this, he worked for three years at MicroUnity Systems Engineering, focusing on microkernel architecture and digital signal processor (DSP) programming.
Netscape
Eich joined Netscape Communications Corporation in April 1995 with the initial goal of embedding the Scheme language within the browser. However, management insisted on a language with syntax resembling that of Java. In response, Eich designed a new language that merged Scheme's capabilities, the object-oriented features of Self, and Java-like syntax. Remarkably, he developed the first iteration within ten days to align with the release timeline for Navigator 2.0 Beta. The language was first called Mocha, renamed LiveScript in September 1995, and ultimately branded JavaScript in December through collaboration with Sun Microsystems. Concurrently, Eich built the initial version of the SpiderMonkey engine to enable execution of this language within Navigator.
When Mozilla took over Netscape’s source code in 1998, SpiderMonkey—implemented in C—was part of the package. The engine was upgraded to JavaScript 1.5 to meet the requirements of the ECMA-262 standard. Eich remained responsible for SpiderMonkey’s progress, ensuring it continued as Navigator's JavaScript engine.
Mozilla
In early 1998, Eich co-launched the free and open-source software initiative known as Mozilla, alongside Jamie Zawinski and others, establishing mozilla.org to coordinate community contributions to Netscape’s codebase. He fulfilled the role of chief systems architect for Mozilla. Following AOL's acquisition of Netscape in 1999 and its subsequent browser division shutdown in 2003, Eich played a key role in founding the Mozilla Foundation.
In August 2005, Eich was appointed chief technical officer (CTO) of the newly created Mozilla Corporation, which serves as the Foundation's commercial branch. He continued overseeing development of Mozilla’s JavaScript engine, SpiderMonkey, until transferring leadership to Dave Mandelin in 2011.
Appointment to CEO and resignation
On March 24, 2014, Mozilla named Eich as the CEO of Mozilla Corporation. This appointment provoked significant backlash due to Eich’s earlier political contributions—most notably a $1,000 donation in 2008 supporting California Proposition 8, which aimed to prohibit same-sex marriage, along with additional contributions totaling $2,100 to Tom McClintock, an advocate for Proposition 8. Although these donations had been public knowledge since 2012, the announcement renewed intense public debate.
In the aftermath of Eich’s selection, initial reports suggested that three members of the board resigned in protest, leaving only Mitchell Baker, Reid Hoffman, and Katharina Borchert as remaining board members. However, subsequent clarifications revealed that only John Lilly departed directly because of Eich’s appointment.
Eich issued a statement expressing regret for the distress caused and committed to collaborating with Mozilla’s LGBT communities. Activist groups responded with campaigns opposing his leadership; for instance, the online dating platform OkCupid displayed messages encouraging Firefox users to switch browsers. Additionally, CREDO Mobile amassed over 50,000 signatures calling for his resignation.
After serving merely 11 days as CEO, Eich stepped down on April 3, 2014, explaining that he was unable to lead effectively under the prevailing circumstances. Mozilla disclosed that board members had attempted to retain him in an alternative capacity, but Eich opted to cut ties with the organization at that time.
Brave Software
Eich is the co-founder and current CEO of Brave Software, a company focused on developing a web browser platform. The firm secured $2.5 million in early-stage investment from angel backers including Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, and Digital Currency Group. In January 2016, Brave Software launched developer editions of its open-source browser based on Chromium technology, designed to block ads and trackers.
Within Brave Software, Eich played a key role in creating the Basic Attention Token (BAT), a cryptocurrency integrated into the Brave browser ecosystem. The BAT project conducted its initial coin offering (ICO) on May 31, 2017, successfully raising $35 million.
In 2020, The New York Times reported that Eich faced criticism from Brave users after making controversial statements on Twitter regarding coronavirus-related policies and science—a backlash reminiscent of the criticism that led to his departure from Mozilla.