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

American computer engineer Steve Wozniak, along with the legendary Steve Jobs, managed to turn the world's view of computers. In 1975, they assembled their first device remotely resembling a modern PC, and in 1980 they became millionaires and legislators in the computer industry. Steve Wozniak, whose biography will be described in this article, is an ingenious inventor and co-founder of Apple's great multi-billion dollar company. Unfortunately, his services in the field of electronics are rarely mentioned, his colleague, Steve Jobs, is more often recalled. But who knows if Jobs would now be a legend, if not Wozniak.

Childhood and first passion

Stephen Gary Wozniak was born August 11 in 1950 in the city of San Jose in the west of the United States. His parents were from Bukovina, mother by nationality - German, father - Polish. In the US, they moved after the Second World War. Stephen's father, Francis Wozniak, graduated from the California Institute of Technology and was engaged in the development of a missile guidance system at Lockheed, working as an engineer. Little Steve often saw his father digging in the instruments and trying to help him. So Steve Wozniak discovered the first and main passion - the world of electronics. Then he did not yet know that he would someday become the father of the computer revolution.

In the meantime, a fourth-grade student, a very young boy, Steve Wozniak, rejoices at the victory at the city's inventors' contest held by the BBC. He presented to the jury a complex calculator, which he collected himself! Already in his school years, Steve became an employee of the company Sylvania. And after receiving the certificate of secondary education he went to Berkeley to continue his studies there at the University of California. Soon it became clear that the money for teaching his son from his parents was sorely lacking, so Steve Wozniak was forced to transfer to the University of Den-Asa. However, and from this educational institution the guy soon left.

Carier start

Stephen was a second-year student 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. It is interesting that in 1975, at the disposal of all the engineers, who numbered about 80 people, there was only one computer.

Creating Apple

In 1975, the first computer Altair-8800 appeared on the American market. Give him $ 400 for Stephen at that time could not, but to have this "child of progress" he had to be sure! So he went the other way - did it himself, using a Motorola microprocessor and several memory modules for this. The creation of Wozniak for several years ahead of the already presented to the public device Altair-8800 and it was a truly amazing invention.

Evaluating the work of Wozniak, his namesake and a good friend Steve Jobs was the initiator of the development of another model of the computer - such that it will look like a fully assembled PC, which will interest computer fans. To do this, you had to add a keyboard, a monitor and some RAM to the invented PC. Wozniak took the proposal skeptical, but still agreed. Friends sold their most valuable things (Wozniak is a scientific calculator for Hewlett-Packard, and Jobs is a Volkswagen van) to be able to buy the necessary accessories for a future computer. The computer card assembled in the garage will soon become the platform for their first commercial project, Apple I.

First sales

In early 1976, the guys received their first order in the amount of 25 pieces of personal computers from a local electronics dealer, after which Wozniak left his job at Hewlett-Packard and was completely committed to his work. In 1976, namely on April 1, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs created, and in 1977 formally registered their company and named it Apple Computer, in honor of their favorite group of friends - the Beatles, on the albums which always had an apple logo.

First success

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

Achievements

Steve Wozniak became the father of the revolution in the world of computers. It was up to him how the new computers would accept their users. Over the exterior design of the devices perfectionist Jobs worked, but over the convenience of their use - the master Wozniak. Most programs for Apple computers were written by him. For printers, the release of 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 designs of the 16-bit SWEET-16 processor are also Wozniak's development.

Two Steve's

Despite the fact that the names of the two Styles were different (Steven and Stephen), they sounded the same. They could not be named by their names, so they often called their managers "Steve" and "Second Steve". Steve Wozniak (whose photo rarely flashed and flashed in the periodicals) had many nicknames and pseudonyms. He was also called "The Woz", and "iWoz", and "Wizard of Woz". A friend and companion-in-arms, Jobs called him simply "Woz".

Life outside Apple

In 1981, Wozniak took off on his plane to Santa Cruz in a plane crash. Fortunately, everything worked out and Steven did not get serious injuries. The only thing that bothered him after the accident was amnesia. He did not remember the incident, nor his stay in the hospital, nor the simple daily affairs that he practiced after he was discharged. Steve had to collect information on pieces from other people. Memory soon returned to him, mostly thanks to the games on Apple II.

After the plane crash, Stephen did not return to the company, but devoted all his time to building a family. He married Candy Clarke, who liked to be called a "super woman" for her surname, similar to the name of the superman Kent Clark - a US-famous comic book hero.

At the same time, Wozniak returned to the University of California to continue his studies. In 1986 he received a bachelor's degree (the field of electrical engineering and computer technology).

For two consecutive years (in 1982 and 1983) Stephen Wozniak sponsored the National Rock Festivals "The US Festival", in which Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, U2, Scorpions and other rock legends took part. Feature of these festivals were exhibitions of novelties of world technologies.

Free swimming

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

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

In addition, Stephen began active teaching and charitable activities. He sponsored the Los Gatos technology program, a district in which Stephen's children attended school. In 2004, for his contribution to the development of personal computers, he received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina.

Another creation that the world presented to Steve Wozniak is the book "iWoz", describing the events of his life. It is worth reading to anyone who is interested in the history and features of creating modern computer technologies.