He is known as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the s and s , along with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He primarily designed the Apple II , known as one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers , [8] while Jobs oversaw the development of its unusual case and Rod Holt developed the unique power supply.

Steve Wozniak was born in San Jose , California , the son of Margaret Elaine Kern and Jacob Francis "Jerry" Wozniak.

He is of Ukrainian and Swiss-German ancestry. His father was from Tshervona Dibrova, Bukovyna , Ukraine Bukovyna, Ukraine was under the control of Poland [10] and his mother from German-Swiss background. The family emigrated to US. The name on Wozniak's birth certificate is "Stephan Gary Wozniak", but Steve's mother said that she intended it to be spelled "Stephen", and "Steve" is what he uses.

Wozniak has been referred to frequently by the nickname "Woz", "The Wonderful Wizard of Woz", "The Second Steve", or "The Woz"; [13] "WoZ" short for " Wheels of Zeus " is also the name of a company Wozniak founded. The city of San Jose named a street "Woz Way" in his honour. In the early s, Wozniak was also known as "Berkeley Blue" in the phone phreak community, after he made a blue box.

Wozniak has mentioned that Star Trek was a source of inspiration for him starting Apple Inc. In , Wozniak returned to the Bay Area after being expelled from University of Colorado Boulder in his first year for hacking into the institution's computer system. Before focusing his attention on Apple, he was employed at Hewlett-Packard where he designed calculators.

Steve Wozniak was introduced to Jobs by friend Bill Fernandez , who attended Homestead High School with Jobs in Jobs and Wozniak became friends when Jobs worked for the summer at Hewlett-Packard HP , where Wozniak too was employed, working on a mainframe computer. A friend said, 'you should meet Steve Jobs, because he likes electronics and he also plays pranks. In , Jobs was working for arcade game company Atari, Inc. Jobs had little knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips.

Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, by using RAM for the brick representation.

Steve Jobs - Wikipedia

Too complex to be fully comprehended at the time, the fact that this prototype also had no scoring or coin mechanisms meant Woz's prototype could not be used. Jobs was paid the full bonus regardless. On June 29, Wozniak tested his first working prototype, displaying a few letters and running sample programs. It was the first time in history that a character displayed on a TV screen was generated by a home computer.

The Club was one of several key centers which established the home hobbyist era, essentially creating the microcomputer industry over the next few decades.

Unlike other Homebrew designs, the Apple had an easy-to-achieve video capability that drew a crowd when it was unveiled. In , Wozniak developed the computer that eventually made him famous. He alone designed the hardware, circuit board designs, and operating system for the Apple I. Wozniak, at first skeptical, was later convinced by Jobs that even if they were not successful they could at least say to their grandkids they had had their own company.

Wozniak's apartment in San Jose was filled with monitors, electronic devices, and some computer games Wozniak had developed.

How the Founders of Apple Got Rich » Mac History

Wozniak later said he had no idea about the relation between the number and the mark of the beast , and "I came up with [it] because I like repeating digits. On April 1, , Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer along with administrative supervisor Ronald Wayne , whose participation in the new venture was short lived. Wozniak resigned from his job at Hewlett-Packard and became the vice president in charge of research and development at Apple.

Wozniak's Apple I was similar to the Altair , the first commercially available microcomputer, except the Apple I had no provision for internal expansion cards.

With expansion cards the Altair could attach to a computer terminal and be programmed in BASIC. In contrast, the Apple I was a hobbyist machine. Apple's first computer lacked a case, power supply, keyboard, and display, all components the user had to provide.

After the success of the Apple I, Wozniak designed the Apple II , the first personal computer that had the ability to display color graphics, and BASIC programming language built-in.

After a heated argument, during which Wozniak had threatened for Jobs to 'go get himself another computer', they decided to go with eight slots. The Apple II became one of the first highly successful mass-produced personal computers. On February 7, , the Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC Wozniak was piloting crashed soon after takeoff from the Sky Park Airport in Scotts Valley , California.

Wozniak sustained severe face and head injuries, including losing a tooth, and also suffered for five weeks after the crash from anterograde amnesia , the inability to create new memories. He had no memory of the crash, and did not remember his name in the hospital or the things he did after he was released. Wozniak did not immediately return to Apple after recovering from the airplane crash, seeing it as a good reason to leave. In May and , Wozniak sponsored two US Festivals to celebrate evolving technologies; they ended up as a technology exposition and a rock festival as a combination of music, computers, television and people.

After losing several million dollars on the festival, he stated that unless the festival turned a profit, he would end his involvement with rock festivals and get back to designing computers.

Also in , Wozniak returned to Apple product development, desiring no more of a role than that of an engineer and a motivational factor for the Apple workforce. Even with the success he helped create at Apple, Wozniak felt that Apple was a hindrance to become who he wanted to be, and that it was "the bane of his existence". Stating that the company had "been going in the wrong direction for the last five years", he sold most of his stock.

After leaving Apple, Wozniak enrolled at UC Berkeley to complete his degree. Because his name was well known at this point, he enrolled under the name Rocky Raccoon Clark, which is the name listed on his diploma. One thing Wozniak wanted to do was teach elementary school because of the important role teachers play in students' lives. Eventually, he did teach computer classes to children from the fifth through ninth grades and teachers as well. Jobs called the Apple Lisa group, the team that had kicked Jobs out, idiots for making the Lisa computer too expensive.

To compete with the Lisa, Jobs and his new team produced a cheaper computer, one that, according to Wozniak, was "weak", "lousy" and "still at a fairly high price". He attributed the eventual success of the Macintosh to people like John Sculley "who worked to build a Macintosh market when the Apple II went away". Wozniak founded CL 9 , which developed and brought the first programmable universal remote control to market in In , Wozniak founded Wheels of Zeus WOZ , to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things much more easily.

Later the same year he joined the board of directors of Danger, Inc. In , Wheels of Zeus was closed, and Wozniak founded Acquicor Technology , a holding company for acquiring technology companies and developing them, with Apple alumni Hancock and Amelio. From through he was chief scientist at Fusion-io. In , Wozniak helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation , providing some of the organization's initial funding [47] [48] [49] and serving on its founding Board of Directors.

Unite Us In Song , an organization Wozniak formed to organize the two US festivals, is now primarily tasked with supporting his educational and philanthropic projects. Wozniak Achievement Awards popularly known as "Wozzie Awards" , which he presented to six Bay Area high school and college students for their innovative use of computers in the fields of business, art and music.

More recently, Wozniak was the subject of a student-made film production of his friend's Joe Patane nonprofit Dream Camp Foundation for high-level need youth titled Camp Woz: The Admirable Lunacy of Philanthropy. In , Wozniak was awarded the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award. In , Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology with Steve Jobs from US President Ronald Reagan. In , he was named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for co-founding Apple Computer and inventing the Apple I personal computer.

In September , Wozniak was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame , [53] and in he was awarded the 7th Annual Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment. In December , Wozniak was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University. In May , Wozniak received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Michigan State University.

He was awarded the Global Award of the President of Armenia for Outstanding Contribution to Humanity Through IT in The award is presented to an engineer whose professional achievements and personal endeavors have advanced the well-being of humankind and is administered by a board representing five engineering organizations: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the American Society of Civil Engineers; the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers; and IEEE.

The New York City Chapter of Young Presidents' Organization presented their Lifetime Achievement Award to Steve Wozniak on October 16, at the American Museum of Natural History. On June 19, , Wozniak received the Legacy for Children Award from the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. The Legacy for Children Award honors an individual whose legacy has significantly benefited the learning and lives of children. The purpose of the Award is to focus Silicon Valley's attention on the needs of our children, encouraging us all to take responsibility for their well-being.

Candidates are nominated by a committee of notable community members involved in children's education, health care, human and social services, and the arts. On June 20, , The Cal Alumni Association UC Berkeley's Alumni Association presented Wozniak with the Alumnus of the Year Award.

In March , High Point University announced that Wozniak will serve as their Innovator in Residence. Through this ongoing partnership, Wozniak will connect with High Point University students and will visit campus on March 23, Wozniak was welcomed back to High Point University 's campus in February to speak with students, faculty, staff and members of the community about a variety of topics.

In March , Wozniak was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 18 in the list of Most Influential Philanthropists and Social Entrepreneurs. For his contributions to technology, Wozniak has been awarded a number of Honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees which include the following:.

Wozniak has been mentioned, represented or interviewed many times including the following programs:. After seeing her stand-up performance in Saratoga, California , Wozniak began dating comedian Kathy Griffin.

My Life on the D-List. Wozniak is on the show as her date for the Producers Guild of America award show. However, on a June 19, appearance on The Howard Stern Show , Griffin confirmed that they were no longer dating and decided to remain friends.

Wozniak portrays a parody of himself in the first episode of the television series Code Monkeys ; he plays the owner of Gameavision before selling it to help fund Apple. He later appears again in the twelfth episode when he is in Las Vegas at the annual Video Game Convention and sees Dave and Jerry.

He also appears in a parody of the "Get a Mac" ads featured in the final episode of Code Monkeys second season. Wozniak is also interviewed and featured in the documentary Hackers Wanted and on BBC. Wozniak competed on Season 8 of Dancing with the Stars in [81] [82] where he danced with Karina Smirnoff. Despite Wozniak and Smirnoff receiving 10 combined points from the three judges out of 30, the lowest score of the evening, he remained in the competition.

He later posted on a social networking site that he felt that the vote count was not legitimate and suggested that the Dancing with the Stars judges had lied about the vote count to keep him on the show. On September 30, , he appeared as himself on The Big Bang Theory season 4 episode " The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification ". While dining in The Cheesecake Factory where Penny works, he is approached by Sheldon via telepresence on a Texai robot.

Leonard tries to explain to Penny who Wozniak is, but she says she already knows him from Dancing with the Stars. On September 30, , he appeared along with Apple alum Daniel Kottke and Andy Hertzfeld on the television show John Wants Answers to discuss the movie Jobs.

Wozniak lives in Los Gatos , California. He applied for Australian citizenship in , and has stated that he would like to live in Melbourne, Australia in the future. He is a Freemason , despite not having faith in a supreme being which is required by Masonic rules except in "Liberal" or Continental Freemasonry. Wozniak describes his impetus for joining the Freemasons as being able to spend more time with his wife at the time, Alice Robertson.

Alice belonged to the Order of the Eastern Star , associated with the Masons. Wozniak has said that he quickly rose to a third degree Freemason because, whatever he does, he tries to do well. He was initiated in at Charity Lodge No. Wozniak was married to Candice Clark from June to They have three children together, the youngest being born after their divorce was finalized. On his religious views, Wozniak called himself an "atheist or agnostic".

He is a member of a Segway Polo team, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks. Wozniak's favorite video game is Tetris , [93] and he had a high score for Sabotage. Wozniak has the condition prosopagnosia , or face-blindness. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Steve Wozniak Wozniak in June Woz Berkeley Blue hacking alias [2] The Second Steve The Wonderful Wizard of Woz Evets Kainzow [3].

University of California, Berkeley B. De Anza College transferred University of Colorado Boulder expelled. Co-Founder of Apple Inc. Apple I developer Apple II co-developer Pioneer of the personal computer revolution with Steve Jobs. Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It.

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June 19, — The Howard Stern Show. Archived November 5, , at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on February 8, Retrieved February 5, Retrieved June 12, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. The Woz Marries, Switcher Campaign Starts, IE Ended". Retrieved November 28, Retrieved June 20, I am also atheist or agnostic I don't even know the difference. I've never been to church and prefer to think for myself. I do believe that religions stand for good things, and that if you make irrational sacrifices for a religion, then everyone can tell that your religion is important to you and can trust that your most important inner faiths are strong.

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Steve Wozniak - Wikipedia

Wozniak in June Stephan Gary Wozniak [1]: BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley , [4] [5]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Wozniak.

Steve Wozniak Net Worth

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