[2][3][4] Dr. Matijevic was involved in developing the "Sojourner", "Spirit", "Opportunity" and "Curiosity" rovers.

[2][5][6] Matijevic was born and grew up in Chicago, Illinois[3] and graduated from Mount Carmel High School.

[2][7] In 1981, Matijevic began working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, as a control systems engineer.

[2] Afterwards, Matijevic helped develop the "Spirit" and "Opportunity" rovers that began exploring Mars in 2004.

He also helped develop the "Curiosity" rover that landed on Mars in August 2012, just two weeks before his death.