Hadi Partovi

Who He Was

Hadi Partovi is a software engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Code.org in 2013, a nonprofit that has introduced more children to computer science than any other organization in history. Born in Iran and raised in Tehran, Partovi and his twin brother taught themselves to code on a computer their father brought home when Hadi was nine years old. He later earned a degree in computer science from Harvard and went on to work at Microsoft before founding and investing in a string of technology companies. After seeing how few schools taught computer science and how few students, particularly girls and kids from underrepresented backgrounds, believed the field was open to them, he launched Code.org with the Hour of Code initiative. Hour of Code, a one-hour introduction to programming, has now been completed more than 1 billion times in 180 countries.

Why He Matters

Hadi Partovi built a platform that has changed what millions of children believe is possible for them. The Hour of Code has reached students in nearly every country in the world and helped establish computer science as a core subject in thousands of schools that had never taught it before. His story is also a reminder that great engineering careers do not follow a single path. He built products, started companies, invested in others, and eventually decided the most important thing he could do was make sure every child had a chance to learn to code. For young people who love technology and also care about fairness and access, Partovi's career is a model of how engineering skills can be used to change not just products, but opportunities.