Steve Wozniak
Given the competition, Steve Wozniak may not last long on this season’s “Dancing with the Stars,” but you have to give one of the original computer geeks props for trying.
Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California. In 1970, he would form a friendship that would change his life forever with another Steve – Steve Jobs. The two decided to build a desktop computer and after raising $1,300, they used Jobs’ garage and Wozniak’s apartment to assemble the Apple I Computer. It contained only 256 bytes of ROM, and 4k or 8k bytes of RAM. It lacked a lot of things we are used to today, but it helped launch the personal computer revolution.
In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer. Wozniak worked to further develop the Apple I, including adding high-resolution graphics and developing software for the computer. In 1980, when Apple went public, both Jobs and Wozniak became multimillionaires.
However, the next year, Wozniak crashed his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane due to a premature takeoff. He suffered both retrograde and temporary anterograde amnesia. He didn’t remember the crash or the subsequent hospital stay and also had trouble remembering simple things like the day of the week. When his then-girlfriend Candice Clark told him of the crash, his short term memory began to return.
Wozniak ended full time employment with Apple in 1987, although he still is listed as an employee, receives a paycheck, and is a shareholder. For his contributions to technology, Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology in 1985 from President Ronald Reagan. In 2000, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
After leaving Apple, Wozniak developed the first universal remote for television in 1987. He taught fifth graders and provides both money and technical support for his local school district. After receiving an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1989, the former student donated the Woz Lab to the school. He also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from North Carolina State University and an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University in 2004.
Wozniak helped co-found the Wheels of Zeus to create wireless GPS technology to help people. He joined the Board of Directors of Ripcord Networks, Inc. and Danger, Inc. (which created the Side Kick for T-Mobile) in 2002. In February 2009, he became the chief scientist for Fusion-io, a data storage and server company.
Wozniak has used his success to help others. He said in the book “Founders at Work” that “…I didn’t seek the success, I wasn’t like the entrepreneur who wants it. So the money to me didn’t really mean much. Pretty much I gave it all away to charities, to museums, to children’s groups, to everything I could.”
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