Stephen Wozniak

Stephen Wozniak (http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/ businesses/images/lab_0001_0001_0_img0029.jpg)

Stephen Wozniak grew up in Surburban Santa Clara Valley, California (the area is now known as Silicon Valley), where his father was an engineer for Lockheed and his mother the president of a Republican women's club. Already Santa Clara Valley was a technological center, its growth accelerating in the wake of Sputnik, the first satellite to be put in orbit by the Soviet Union. Stephen was always into electronics. He was into it as a kid. He made many homemade devices from kits and from scratch. He was very talented. He was extremely bright, but school bored him. He went to the University of Colorado and flunked out. Wozniak went back to the University of California in 1971, but then he dropped out and went back to Hewlett-Packard. Stephen Wozniak was bored by school but obsessed with electronics.

In 1976 Wozniak couldn't afford an Altair. So he built his own computer. Wozniak had built a Apple II and quit his day job. Wozniak and Jobs formed Apple Computer, INC. When it went in public in 1980, its stock value was $117 million; three years later it was $985 million.

Though Wozniak became very rich, he remained mainly interested in the technical aspects of the business. In 1981 a plane he was piloting crashed on the runway. He suffered injuries and amnesia, and his recovery lasted two years. During the time he was recovering, he became involved in other ventures, sponsoring concerts and pursuing New Age Interests. He returned to Apple in 1983, but retired in 1985 after he and Jobs received the National Technology Award from President Reagan.

He moved to Los Gatos, California with his third wife and six children. After retiring from from Apple, he returned to Berkeley and earned his bachelor's degree in computer science and electrical engineering.