Walter Isaacson

American · b. 1952

Walter Isaacson (born May 20, 1952, in New Orleans) is an American journalist and biographer known for in-depth portraits of history's most consequential innovators, including Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna, and Elon Musk. A Harvard graduate and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Isaacson began his career at The Sunday Times of London before joining Time magazine in 1978, eventually becoming its editor in 1996. He later served as chairman and CEO of CNN and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute for fifteen years. His 2011 biography Steve Jobs, based on more than forty interviews conducted with Jobs over two years, became a number-one bestseller and the basis for a feature film. Isaacson is now a professor of history at Tulane University and was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023.

Notable works: Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Leonardo da Vinci; Elon Musk