Built by Dr. Noonien Soong, assisted by Juliana O'Donnell-Soong on the Federation Omicron Theta colony. An android, Data's positronic brain has an ultimate storage capacity of 800 quadrillion bits. His total linear computational speed has been rated at 60 trillion operations per second. His body contains approximately 24.6 kg of tripolymer composites, 11.8 kg of molybdenum-cobalt alloys, 1.3 kg of bioplast sheeting, a cortenide and duranium skull, and a polyalloy spinal support. Being anatomically correct, he is fully functional and programmed with multiple techniques. Data was Noonian Soong's second successful android creation. The first was his "brother" Lore. Both Data and Lore are built in the appearance of Dr. Soong. Lore had to be deactivated and disassembled because the colonists were afraid of him because he was "cruel" and "evil." Lore had lured the Crystalline Entity to the colony. The Crystalline Entity destroyed all lifeforms on the planet, even the soil bacteria. Dr. Soong and Juliana fled the colony, but left Data behind. In 2338, Data was found by the crew of the U.S.S. Tripoli NCC-19386. He subsequently joined Starfleet. He has a pet cat, Spot, who gave birth to kittens in 2370. In 2364, Data and the Enterprise-D crew found Lore, and assembled and activated him. When Lore attempted to take control of the Enterprise-D, Data beamed him into space. (Lore was later picked up by a Pakled ship.) In 2366 Data created an android offspring named Lal, however the positronic brain became unstable and she died. In 2367, Dr. Soong activated Data's homing beacon. Dr. Soong was dying and he wanted to install an "emotion chip" which contained memories and programming for emotions. However, Lore also was called back and he stole the chip. In 2369 Lore found a group of dysfunctional Borg and became their leader. He used the emotion chip to deactive Data's ethical program and sent "negative" emotions to Data to manipulate him into joining the Borg. Data was forced to deactivate Lore after the Enterprise crew rebooted Data's ethical program. He removed the emotion chip from Lore and saved it. In 2371, Data and Geordi LaForge installed Data's emotion chip, which became fused into his neural net due to an overload. He continues in the development and control of emotions. He is now able to activate and deactivate the chip on command.

Starfleet History
He has been decorated by Starfleet Command for gallantry, and is the recipient of the Medal of Honor with clusters, the Legion of Honor, and the Star Cross.

2338 Discovered by crew of U.S.S. Tripoli NCC-19386
2341-2345 Attended Starfleet Academy
2346 Posted to U.S.S. Trieste NCC-37124, Ensign
2349 Promoted to Lieutenant, j.g.
Promoted to Lieutenant.
2364 Posted to U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Ops. Lt. Commander
2365 JAG Phillipa Louvois ruled that Data was a sentient being and not the property of Starfleet
2368 Temporarily commanded the U.S.S. Sutherland NCC-72015 as part of the Federation blockade during the Klingon Civil War.
2371 U.S.S. Enterpise NCC-1701-D was destroyed at Veridian III.
2372 Posted to Sovereign-class U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E
2373 Served on the Enterprise NCC-1701-E during Borg Invasion. Killed the Borg Queen by throwing her into plasma coolant.

Data was first seen in "Encounter at Farpoint" (TNG).