Wozniak, Stephen G.

SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology

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b. 1950 Sunnyvale, California, USA

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American computer engineer who with Steven Jobs built the first home computer.

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Bored by school at Sunnyvale, the young Wozniak became interested in computers and at the age of only 13 years he constructed a transistorized calculator that won a prize at the Bay Area Science Fair. After high school, he went to the University of Colorado, but he left the following year to study at the De Anza College in Cupertino, California, finally dropping out of formal education altogether and working as a programmer for a small computer company. In 1971 he made another attempt at studying for a degree in engineering, this time at the University of California at Berkeley, but he again dropped out and went to work for Hewlett-Packard, where he met 16-year-old Steve Jobs. Joining the Homebrew Computer Club, and with Jobs's help, he built a home computer based on the MOS Technology 8-bit, 6502 microprocessor chip. With 4 K of random access memory (RAM) and the first BASIC interpreter written by Wozniak himself, he demonstrated the computer to Hewlett-Packard management, but they showed little interest in taking it up. With Jobs he therefore founded Apple Company, and with assembly in Jobs's home they found an interested buyer in the shape of Paul Terrill, owner of the newly established Byte Shop chain store, who ordered 100 boards at US$500 each. As a result, with the support of a backer, Mike Markkula, Wozniak in 1976 designed a second computer, the Apple II, which had 16 K of RAM and was offered for sale (without a monitor) at $1195. This was an immediate success and sales rose from $775,000 in 1977 to $335 million in 1981 and $983 million in 1983. In the meantime, however, Wozniak was seriously injured in a plane crash in 1980. He recovered slowly from his injuries and in 1982 returned to college to complete his degree course, after which he spent much of his time with his family. Eventually he became increasingly unhappy with the chaotic management at Apple, and he left the company in 1985, subsequently forming his own computer company, Cloud 9.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

First National Technology Medal (with Jobs) 1985.

Further Reading

M.Moritz, 1984, The Little Kingdom. The Private Story of Apple Computers.

J.S.Young, 1988, Steve Jobs: The Journey is the Reward : Scott Foreman \& Co.

KF