Engineer Steve Wozniak (Stephen Wozniak) - biography of one of the founders of Apple

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

American computer engineer Steve Wozniak, together with the legendary Steve Jobs, managed to turn the world around computers. In 1975, they assembled their first device, vaguely reminiscent of a modern PC, and already in 1980 they became millionaires and trendsetters in the computer industry. Steve Wozniak, whose biography will be described in this article, is a brilliant inventor and co-founder of the great multi-billion dollar company Apple. Unfortunately, now they rarely talk about his merits in the field of electronics, more often they remember his colleague - Steve Jobs. But who knows if Jobs would be a legend now if not for Wozniak.

Childhood and first passion

Stephen Gary Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950 in the city of San Jose in the western United States. His parents were from Bukovina, his mother was German by nationality, and his father was Polish. They moved to the US after World War II. Father Stephen FrancisWozniak graduated from the California Institute of Technology and worked on the development of a missile guidance system at Lockheed while working as an engineer. Little Steve often saw his father digging into the appliances and trying to help him. So Steve Wozniak discovered his first and main passion - the world of electronics. Little did he know then that he would one day be the father of the computer revolution.

In the meantime, a fourth-grade student, a very young boy, Steve Wozniak, rejoices at the victory in the city's invention competition, which was held by the BBC. He presented to the jury a complex calculator that he had assembled himself! Already in his school years, Stiva became an employee of Sylvania. And after receiving a certificate of secondary education, he went to Berkeley to continue his studies there at the University of California. It soon became clear that the parents were sorely lacking money to educate their son, so Steve Wozniak was forced to transfer to Den As University. However, the guy soon left this educational institution.

Career start

Stephen was a sophomore when he was offered a job at Hewlett-Packard. Without thinking twice, he dropped out of school and took the place of a calculator designer in an actively developing company. An interesting fact is that then, in 1975, all the engineers, of whom there were about eighty people in the company, had only one computer.

Creation of Apple

In 1975, the first Altair-8800 computer appeared on the American market. Pay $400 for itStephen could not at that time, but he had to have this “child of progress”! Therefore, he went the other way - he made it himself, using a Motorola microprocessor and several memory modules for this. Wozniak's creation was several years ahead of the Altair-8800 device already presented to the public and was a truly amazing invention.

After appreciating Wozniak's work, his namesake and good friend Steve Jobs initiated the development of another computer model - one that will look like a fully assembled PC, which will interest computer enthusiasts. To do this, it was necessary to add a keyboard, a monitor and some RAM to the invented PC. Wozniak was skeptical about the offer, but nevertheless agreed. The friends sold their most prized possessions (Wozniak's Hewlett-Packard scientific calculator and Jobs' Volkswagen van) so they could buy the parts they needed for a future computer. A computer board assembled in a garage will soon become the platform for their first commercial project, Apple I.

First sales

In early 1976, the guys received their first order of 25 personal computers from a local electronics dealer, after which Wozniak left his job at Hewlett-Packard and devoted himself entirely to his business. In 1976, namely on April 1, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs created, and in 1977 officially registered their company and named it Apple Computer, in honor of their favorite group of friends - the Beatles, on whose albums there was always a logo inthe shape of an apple.

First success

The simple and compact Apple I, created by the two Steves in 1976, brought them their first profit. Devices worth 666 dollars and 66 cents were sold more than 600 pieces. And the release of the new Apple II model, more convenient and compact, completely turned a small garage company into a joint-stock company. The demand for Apple equipment was incredible, very quickly the company won a large share of the computer market. Wozniak and Jobs became millionaires in 1980.

Achievements

Steve Wozniak fathered the computer revolution. It depended on him how users will perceive their new computers. The perfectionist Jobs worked on the external design of the devices, but the master Wozniak worked on the convenience of their use. Most of the programs for Apple computers were written by him. For printers, which soon became one of the company's activities, Wozniak also created most of the software. The Calvin programming language, a computer game called Breakout, and a set of virtual constructs for the sixteen-bit SWEET-16 processor are also Wozniak's designs.

Two Steves

Despite the fact that the names of the two Steves were different (Steven and Stephen), they sounded the same. Employees could not call them by their last names, so they often referred to their supervisors as “Steve” and “Second Steve”. Steve Wozniak (whose photo rarely flashed and flashed in periodicals) had many nicknames and pseudonyms. Hiscalled "The Woz", and "iWoz", and "Wizard of Woz". Friend and colleague Jobs called him simply "Woz".

Life outside of Apple

In 1981, Wozniak was in a plane crash while taking off from his plane in Santa Cruz. Fortunately, everything worked out and Stephen was not seriously injured. The only thing that bothered him after the accident was amnesia. He did not remember the incident itself, nor his stay in the hospital, nor the simple daily activities that he did after he was discharged. Steve had to pick up bits and pieces of information from other people. His memory soon returned, thanks in large part to playing games on the Apple II.

After the plane crash, Stephen did not return to the company, but devoted all his time to creating a family. He married Candy Clark, whom he liked to call "superwoman" for her last name, similar to the name of superman Kent Clark, a famous comic book hero in the USA.

At the same time, Wozniak returned to the University of California to continue his studies. He received his bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering in 1986.

Two years in a row (in 1982 and 1983) Stephen Wozniak sponsored The US Festival national rock festivals featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, U2, Scorpions and more -legends. A feature of these festivals were exhibitions of novelties of world technologies.

Free swimming

In 1983, Steven Wozniak decided to return to Apple as a lead engineer. But in February 1987 againleaves the company, this time for good. The reason for this was disappointment in the best friend and companion Steve Jobs.

After leaving Apple, Wozniak founded several high-tech companies, including CL-9, which produces remote controls, and Wheels Of Zeus, which creates wireless GPS technology. In 2002, Steve joined the board of directors of Ripcord Networks Inc. and Danger Inc.

In addition, Stephen began an active teaching and charitable work. He sponsored the Los Gatos technology program, the district where Stephen's children attended school. He received a PhD from the University of North Carolina in 2004 for his contributions to the personal computing industry.

Another creation that Steve Wozniak gave to the world is the book "iWoz", describing the events of his life. It should be read by anyone who is interested in the history and features of the creation of modern computer technology.