Skip to content Skip to navigation

John Markoff

John Markoff

John Markoff

Science Writer
New York Times
Research Affiliate, 2019-20
Research Affiliate, 2018-19 Study #16
Fellow, 2017-18 Study #46
Visiting Scholar, 2013-14 Study #50

John Markoff is currently researching a biography of Stewart Brand, the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog. A research affiliate at CASBS, Markoff will be participating in projects focusing on the future of work and artificial intelligence.

In 2017-18 he was Berggruen Fellow at CASBS. In 2017 he joined the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a staff historian. Previously he was a reporter at The New York Times, beginning in March 1988 as the paper’s national computer writer. He moved to Silicon Valley to write about technology in 1992. Prior to joining the Times, he worked for The San Francisco Examiner from 1985 to 1988. He reported for the New York Times Science Section from 2010 through 2015. He returned to the Business Section to cover Silicon Valley in 2016 and retired from the paper in December of 2016.

Markoff has written about technology and science since 1977. He reported on technology and the defense industry for The Pacific News Service in San Francisco from 1977 to 1981; he was a reporter at Infoworld from 1981 to 1983; he was the West Coast editor for Byte Magazine from 1984 to 1985 and wrote a column on personal computers for The San Jose Mercury from 1983 to 1985.

He has also been a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism and an adjunct faculty member of the Stanford Graduate Program on Journalism.

The Times nominated him for a Pulitzer Prize in 1995, 1998 and 2000. The San Francisco Examiner nominated him for a Pulitzer in 1987. In 2005, with a group of Times reporters, he received the Loeb Award for business journalism. In 2007 he shared the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Breaking News award. In 2013 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting as part of a New York Times project on labor and automation.

In 2007 he became a member of the International Media Council at the World Economic Forum. Also in 2007, he was named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, the organization’s highest honor.

In June of 2010 the New York Times presented him with the Nathaniel Nash Award, which is given annually for foreign and business reporting.

Markoff is the author or co-author of the following: The High Cost of High Tech (Harper & Row, 1985); Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier with Katie Hafner Simon & Schuster, 1991); Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of America’s Most Wanted Computer Outlaw (Hyperion, 1996), co-authored with Tsutomu Shimomura; What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture shaped the Personal Computer Industry (Viking Books, 2005); Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots (HarperCollins Ecco, 2015).

Born in Oakland, California, Markoff grew up in Palo Alto, California and graduated from Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, in 1971. He attended graduate school at the University of Oregon and received an MA in sociology in 1976.

John Markoff is currently researching a biography of Stewart Brand, the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog. A research affiliate at CASBS, Markoff will be participating in projects focusing on the future of work and artificial intelligence.

In 2017-18 he was Berggruen Fellow at CASBS. In 2017 he joined the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a staff historian. Previously he was a reporter at The New York Times, beginning in March 1988 as the paper’s national computer writer. He moved to Silicon Valley to write about technology in 1992. Prior to joining the Times, he worked for The San Francisco Examiner from 1985 to 1988. He reported for the New York Times Science Section from 2010 through 2015. He returned to the Business Section to cover Silicon Valley in 2016 and retired from the paper in December of 2016.

Markoff has written about technology and science since 1977. He reported on technology and the defense industry for The Pacific News Service in San Francisco from 1977 to 1981; he was a reporter at Infoworld from 1981 to 1983; he was the West Coast editor for Byte Magazine from 1984 to 1985 and wrote a column on personal computers for The San Jose Mercury from 1983 to 1985.

He has also been a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism and an adjunct faculty member of the Stanford Graduate Program on Journalism.

The Times nominated him for a Pulitzer Prize in 1995, 1998 and 2000. The San Francisco Examiner nominated him for a Pulitzer in 1987. In 2005, with a group of Times reporters, he received the Loeb Award for business journalism. In 2007 he shared the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Breaking News award. In 2013 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting as part of a New York Times project on labor and automation.

In 2007 he became a member of the International Media Council at the World Economic Forum. Also in 2007, he was named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, the organization’s highest honor.

In June of 2010 the New York Times presented him with the Nathaniel Nash Award, which is given annually for foreign and business reporting.

Markoff is the author or co-author of the following: The High Cost of High Tech (Harper & Row, 1985); Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier with Katie Hafner Simon & Schuster, 1991); Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of America’s Most Wanted Computer Outlaw (Hyperion, 1996), co-authored with Tsutomu Shimomura; What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture shaped the Personal Computer Industry (Viking Books, 2005); Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots (HarperCollins Ecco, 2015).

Born in Oakland, California, Markoff grew up in Palo Alto, California and graduated from Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, in 1971. He attended graduate school at the University of Oregon and received an MA in sociology in 1976.