Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak (Stephen Gary Wozniak) was born on August 11th, 1950 and is currently 75 years old. Steve Wozniak was born in San Jose, CA, USA. Wozniak attended the University of California, Berkeley where he received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree. He also attended De Anza College and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Steve Wozniak is a technology entrepreneur, computer programmer, electrical engineer, inventor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs, his early business partner. Through his work with Apple during the 70s and 80s, he’s widely recognized as being one of the most prominent pioneers of the personal computer revolution.

Steven was expelled from the University of Colorado Boulder during his first year because he hacked the university’s computer system. In June of 1971, he designed and built his first computer with Bill Fernandez as part of a self-taught engineering project. They called it “Cream Soda” after their favorite beverage.

Despite it being blown up, it still served Steve as a good prelude to his thinking with the Apple I and II computers.

Before focusing attention on Apple, he was employed by Hewlett-Packard, where he designed calculators. It was during this time that he dropped out of Berkeley and befriended Steve Jobs.

He started developing the Apple I in 1975 into the computer that launched Apple back when he and Jobs and first began marketing it the next year. He was the primary designer of the Apple II, which was introduced in 1977, known as one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers, while Jobs oversaw development of its foam-molded plastic case and Rod Holt (early Apple employee) developed its switching power supply.

He’s stayed an Apple employee in a ceremonial capacity ever since stepping down in 1985. He’s helped funded numerous entrepreneurial efforts in areas including telecommunications, GPS, tech, flash memory, satellites, and pop culture conventions.

In iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way, the mastermind behind Apple Computer sheds his low profile and steps forward to tell his story for the first time.

Before slim laptops that fit snugly into briefcases and cell phones that fit in the palm of your hand, computers were these alien and strange vending machines. They had punch cards, cryptic switches, and pages of encoded output. However back in 1975, Steve Wozniak (a young engineering wizard) had this idea: what if you combined a regular typewriter, a video screen, and computer circuitry? The result was the first real personal computer: the Apple I, this widely affordable machine which anybody could understand and figure out how to use.

Wozniak’s life before and after Apple is a “home-brew” combination of adventure and brilliant discovery, as a concert promoter, an engineer, a 5th grade teacher, an irrepressible prankster, and a philanthropist. From the first personal computer’s invention to the rise of Apple as an industry giant, this book presents a rollicking, no-holds-barred, firsthand account of the humanist inventor that ignited the computer revolution.

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4. Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games Series.
5. Ian McDonald, author of the Luna Series.

Steve Wozniak: F.A.Q