Mountain View, city, Mountain View County, western California, at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, between the Santa Cruz and Diablo Mountains (from which its name is derived); incorporated 1902. Manufactures include medical diagnostic, electronic, and aerospace equipment, computer software, and laser and microwave components. Moffett Field Naval Air Station, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration research center, and Saint Patrick's College (1898) are in the area. The community was founded in the early 1850s as a stagecoach stop.