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Lieutenant Commander/Professor Data; A humanoid android so sophisticated that he was regarded as a sentient life form with full civil rights. Data was a Starfleet officer who served as operations manager under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard aboard the Starship Enterprise-D "Encounter at Farpoint, Part II" and later, aboard the Starship Enterprise-E Star Trek: First Contact
Data was built
around 2335 by the reclusive scientist Noonien Soong and his wife,
Juliana Soong, at the Omicron Theta colony. Data was actually the
fifth positronic android constructed by Soong; the first three were
unsuccessful. "Inheritance". The fourth, the first to
become functional, was known as Lore. "Datalore". Lore
exhibited dangerous behavior, forcing Soong to disassemble him. Soong
thereafter pursued the idea of building an android free of emotions.
Soong hoped this new android would not exhibit the cruelty shown by
Lore. Juliana had wanted Data to have a female form, but Noonien, as
before, created Data in his own image. Following his activation, Data
was much like a baby, though he was made in the form of a full-grown
adult. Data had difficulty learning basic social skills, and
"social niceties" had to be built into his programming. In
addition, a creative capacity was also programmed into Data by Mrs.
Soong, who reasoned that without emotions, the android would need 
another
way to express himself. After this initial period, Data was thought
unsuccessful and was deactivated. "Inheritance". He was
programmed with the logs and journals of the Omicron Theta colonists
in an effort to help Data function better in human society.
"Datalore", "Silicon Avatar". Unfortunately,
before Data could be reactivated, the Crystalline Entity attacked the
colony, and Soong and his wife, Juliana, were forced to abandon their
work. Fearing that when reactivated, Data might behave as Lore did,
Juliana made Dr. Soong leave Data at the colony site.
"Inheritance". Data remained in a dormant condition
underground, where he was discovered in 2338 by the crew of the
Starship Tripoli Data subsequently joined the Starfleet and
eventually became operations manager aboard the Enterprise-D.
"Datalore" Data was based on a sophisticated positronic
brain developed by Soong, from concepts first postulated in the 20th
century by Dr. Isaac Asimov. "Datalore".
Data's body
closely mimicked humanoid form, and contained approximately 24.6
kilograms of tripolymer composites, 11.8 kilograms of molybdenum-cobalt
alloys, and 1.3 kilograms of bioplast sheeting. "The Most
Toys". His upper spinal support was polyalloy, while his skull
was composed of cortenide and duranium. "The Chase". Soong
went to extraordinary lengths to create a naturalistic human
appearance in Data. He gave Data a functional respiration system,
although its purpose was primarily for thermal regulation. Data was
in fact capable of functioning for extended periods in a vacuum.
"Brothers" He gave Data a pulse and a circulatory system
that distributed biochemical lubricants and regulated microhydraulic
power throughout Data's body. Data's hair was even capable of growth
at a controllable rate. "Birthright, Part I". Data did not
require food; he occasionally ingested a semi-organic nutrient
suspension in a silicon-based liquid medium. "Déjà Q".
Although Data's systems were primarily mechanical, cybernetic, and positronic, sufficient biological components were present to allow him to become infected by the Psi 2000 virus in 2364. While under the influence of the inhibition-stripping effects of that disease, Data became intimate with Enterprise-D security chief Tasha Yar. "The Naked Now". Data's basic programming included a strong inhibition against harming living beings, but he nevertheless had the ability to use deadly force to protect others. "The Most Toys".
Prior to his assignment to the Enterprise-D, Data served aboard the U.S.S. Trieste. During this tour-of-duty, the Trieste once fell through a wormhole. "Clues". Aboard the Enterprise-D, Data served as operations manager, and was in charge of coordinating the many departments aboard the ship. "Encounter at Farpoint". In 2366, Commander Data was seriously injured trying to save Q from an attack by gaseous creatures called the Calamarain. In gratitude, Q gave Data the gift of allowing Data to experience human laughter for a brief time. "Déjà. Q".
Data served as father of the bride for the wedding of Miles O'Brien and Keiko Ishikawa in 2367, and found it necessary to learn to dance to fulfill this ceremonial function. "Data's Day". Data's first opportunity to command a starship came during the Federation blockade during the Klingon civil war of 2368. Data was assigned temporary command of the Starship Sutherland in Picard´s armada. As an android, Data encountered a small amount of prejudice among his human crew, but was nevertheless able to lead effectively. "Redemption, Part II".
In
late 2368, when bizarre evidence was found suggesting that he had
died some 500 years ago, Data traveled back in time to old San
Francisco. The evidence was Data's severed head, unearthed from
beneath the city of San Francisco, where it had been buried for five
centuries. "Time's Arrow, Part I. Traveling back in time to the
year 1893, Data uncovered a plot by aliens from the planet Devidia II
who were using the cholera plague of the time to conceal their murder
of humans. While attempting to stop the Devidians, Data's head was
severed, and his body was sent forward in time, back to 2368. Aboard
the Enterprise-D, Geordi La Forge was successful in reattaching
Data's head to his body. "Time's Arrow, Part II". Following
the destruction of the Enterprise-D in 2371, Data accepted an
assignment the following year to the sixth Enterprise, also under the
command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Star
Trek: First Contact.
Upon returning to the Omicron Theta colony site in 2364, Data participated in the discovery and activation of his android brother, Lore. Physically identical to Data, Lore had radically different personality programming, and attempted to commandeer the Enterprise-D before he was beamed into space. "Datalore". Although Noonien Soong was believed to have died at Omicron Theta, he was discovered to have escaped the colony when, in 2367, he remotely gained control of Data, commanding his creation to visit him in his new secret laboratory. There, Soong attempted to install a new chip in Data's positronic brain that would have given Data the ability to experience human emotions. Unfortunately, Lore also responded to Soong's call, and stole the emotion chip from Soong's lab. Dr. Soong died shortly thereafter. "Brothers". Data began to experience emotions in 2369 when Lore secretly bombarded Data with signals that triggered negative emotions in his positronic brain. Lore used these negative emotions to guide Data into joining him and the Borg against the Federation. When Data realized that Lore was manipulating him and harming the Borg, he was forced to deactivate Lore. Data kept Soong's emotion chip, but was reluctant to install it for fear of causing further harm to his friends. "Descent, Parts I and II".
Data's attempts to understand human nature once included an effort to learn about the concept of humor, which he studied with the assistance of Guinan and a holodeck-created comedian. "The Outrageous Okona". Data even tried a beard once, to the considerable amusement of his shipmates. "The Schizoid Man". Aboard the Enterprise-D, Data shared his living quarters with a cat that he named Spot. Data tried to provide for Spot's well being, but found it difficult to predict the cat's preferences in food. "Data's Day". One of Data's more challenging efforts to experience humanity was his attempt to pursue a romantic relationship with Enterprise-D Security Officer Jenna D'Sora in late 2367. Although D'Sora was attracted to Data, he was unable to return the affection, at least in a manner that she wanted. "In Theory".
Data began to experience dreams in 2369 as a result of an accidental plasma shock received during an experiment. It was later learned that the shock had triggered a program designed for this purpose by Soong, who had hoped the program would be activated when Data reached a certain level of development. Data's initial dreams were of Soong as a blacksmith, incongruously forging the wings of a bird, which Data believed represented himself. "Birthright, Part I". Those dreams turned to nightmares while under the influence of interphasic organisms in 2370. "Phantasms". Later that year, following the Enterprise-D's discovery of the D'Arsay archive, Data's own personality became completely submerged by a series of personas, enacting the mythology of a long-dead civilization. Following the experience, Captain Picard commented that even if Data never become human, he had transcended the human condition by becoming an entire civilization. "Masks".
One of Data's
most noteworthy efforts in his quest for humanity was his
construction of an android daughter in 2366. Data employed a new
submicron matrix transfer technology to allow his own neural pathways
to be duplicated in another positronic brain, which he used as the
basis for his child. His daughter, whom he named Lal
("beloved" in Earth's Hindi language), developed at a
remarkable rate and showed evidence of growth potential beyond that
of her father, even experiencing emotions. Lal died after having
lived little more than two weeks, when she experienced a serious
failure in her positronic brain. "The
Offspring".
In 2371, Data finally decided to install the emotion chip that Dr.
Soong had created for him. Although Data had initial difficulty
coping with the resulting flood of emotions-a problem made worse when
the chip became fused into his neural net-the chip represented a
significant step in his quest to become more human. Star
Trek Generations.
By 2373 Data was able to turn his emotion chip on and off at will.
During the Borg invasion of that year, the Borg queen used Data's
quest to become human against him. She had organic components
integrated onto his body, allowing him to experience tactile
sensations, in an effort to seduce him to the Borg collective. Her
efforts were remarkably successful, and Data later reported being
tempted by her offer for '0.68 seconds'. Data nevertheless destroyed
the Borg queen and the collective by exposing them to highly toxic
plasma coolant. His efforts not only saved the Enterprise-E and his
shipmates, but also blocked a time-traveling Borg effort 
to
prevent Zephram Cochrane, in the year 2063, from making his historic
first warp flight. Star
Trek: First Contact.
The question
of Data's sentience, and more specifically whether Data was entitled
to civil rights as a citizen under the Constitution of the United
Federation of Planets, was addressed in a number of important legal
decisions. The first, in 2341, was rendered by a Starfleet Academy
entrance committee that permitted Data to enter the academy and serve
as a member of Starfleet. Several years later, the question was more
definitively addressed when Judge Advocate General Phillipa Louvois
ruled that Data was indeed a sentient being and therefore entitled to
civil rights, including the right to resign from Starfleet if he so
chose. As of Stardate 42527, Data had been decorated by Starfleet
Command for gallantry and had received the Medal of Honor with
clusters, the Legion of Honor, and the Star Cross. "The Measure
of a Man". As an android, Data did not breathe, and he could
function underwater for extended periods of time. He was even able to
alter his buoyancy so that he could walk underwater or float on the
surface. His legs were 87.2 centimeters in length. Data's programming
included a fail-safe that caused his ethical and moral subroutines to
take over in the event that his cognitive functions were damaged. The fail-
safe
was designed to protect him against anyone who might try to take
advantage of him in the event of severe memory loss. In 2375, Data
served on a Federation sociology team, observing the Ba'ku homeworld,
where he befriended a Ba'ku child named Artim. While there, he
accidentally discovered a Son'a plot to conquer the Ba'ku planet.
Data was fond of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Star Trek: Insurrection.
Data was killed saving the crew of the Enterprise-E when Shinzon attempted to kill everyone on Earth. He was replaced by another Data android created by Shinzon to bait Picard into his clutches. Star Trek; Nemesis