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Steve Jobs told his stepbrother to keep his old stuff. Good call! [1]

['Jason Weisberger']

Date: 2026-08-28  

Steve Jobs couldn't be bothered to retrieve his old eighth-grade science project from the family home. He told his stepbrother to keep it instead. That decision just turned into $34,375.

Jobs made "What is the SCR?" while attending Cupertino Jr. High in 1968. The plywood display explains the silicon-controlled rectifier across three panels, with a wooden semiconductor model, test circuits, diagrams, and descriptions. The accompanying 10-page report identifies its author as "Steve Jobs, Science, Mrs. Yakel, Feb. 29, 1968." He left it with his mother.

Image: RR Auctions

Jobs' science fair project came from John Chovanec, Jobs' stepbrother. Chovanec's mother, Marilyn, married Paul Jobs in 1990 and continued to live in the Jobs family home in Los Altos. After Paul Jobs died in 1993, Steve Jobs declined to collect some of his personal belongings that remained in the home. Chovanec apparently asked Jobs to collect the items several times and at one point said he would keep the items himself instead. "Fine, but I don't want to be bothered about it again," Jobs reportedly responded.

Chovanec previously sold other items from Jobs' early years, including posters, magazines, bow ties, a desk, and more. A 1977 Apple Computer poster sold for $659,900, while an Apple–1 Byte Shop wooden case owned by Jobs sold for $254,375. The bow ties sold for $113,580. MacRumors

Even at 13, Jobs worried the user would do it wrong.

Previously:

• The Zen of Steve Jobs: graphic novel

• Steve Jobs: Insanely Great

• Steve Jobs' head sculpted from cheese

• Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO

• Watch Steve Jobs describe ChatGPT decades before its creation

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/08/28/jobs-science-project-auctioned-34k.html

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