-
Born in San Jose, California
His father, an engineer, would teach Wozniak about how electronic devices and components work. This clearly influenced his future career decisions (Hosch, Isaacson, 344). -
Period: to
Attended University of Colorado
Wozniak went to the University of Colorado for one year. He ended up dropping out and attending a community college for a short while (Hosch) -
Period: to
Began attendance at University of California, Berkley
Though the timeframe is frustratingly unclear in various sources, there is consensus that after Wozniak dropped out of University of Colorado and community college, he attended University of California Berkley. Through more derivation, this must have occurred between 1969 and 1971 (Hosch).
During this time, he was also introduced to Steve Jobs (Isaacson, 345-346). -
Invention of the Blue Box
In a partnership with Steve Jobs, Wozniak built the Blue Box. This was a device that could simulate tone chirp signals. The Blue Box, and others like it, were used to trick Bell Systems into making long-distance calls for free (Isaacson, 346-347). Photo credit: Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
The Rise of the Microprocessor
It is around this time that microprocessors become more prevalent in electronics and begin to obsolete standard circuit boards for the purposes of general computation (Isaacson 353). Photo Credit: Konstantin Lanzet, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
First Meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club
The Homebrew Computer Club was a personal computer enthusiast club formed very shortly after the release of the Altair 8800, which the club mostly focused on in its early days. Wozniak was a member of this club (Hosch; Isaacson, 350-351; Levy, 252). -
Integration of a Computer, Keyboard, and Screen
Wozniak assembled an Intel microprocessor, keyboard, and output screen over a period of several months. It was finished at 10 p.m. and later presented to the Homebrew Computer Club. This became the basis of the Apple I later (Isaacson, 350-351; Levy, 258). -
Release of the Apple II
The Apple II was the first entirely integrated commercial personal computer. No setup was required on the end of the user in order to get the machine functional. Both the software and hardware (which were not mutually exclusive) were built primarily by Wozniak (Isaacson 352-353; Levy, 257-266). Photo credit: FozzTexx, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Apple Goes Public
After the success of the Apple II, the company went public. It was valued at over a billion dollars (Hosch). Photo Credit: Rob Janoff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons -
Apple III Releases
The Apple III was intended to be a grand follow-up to the Apple II. Instead, it was largely considered a commercial success. Wozniak himself admitted that the III was very prone to hardware issues and this may have contributed to the problems (Williams and Moore, 177).
Photo Credit: Bilby, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Period: to
Plane Injury
Wozniak was unfortunately caught in a plane accident that left him temporarily unable to create new memories (amnesia). This left him unable to work on Apple products for the time being (Hosch). -
Macintosh Photo Credit
http://www.allaboutapple.com/, CC BY-SA 2.5 IT, via Wikimedia Commons -
Apple Releases Macintosh
The Macintosh was Apple's next success after the Apple II. It featured control through a GUI and interactions with a mouse, which was unlike other personal computers of the time (History Computer Staff). Wozniak had some say in the development of the device, but his plane crash and subsequent hiatus from Apple occurred during this time (Ziegler). -
Retire from Apple
Wozniak eventually retired from apple in 1985. He and Jobs both received a National Medal of Technology from President Ronald Reagan for their work in the computer industry (Hosch). Photo Credit: Mico Kaufman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons -
Receives BSc in Electrical Engineering
Despite having dropped out of Berkley twice (once again between 1981 and 1987; it's frustratingly unclear once again), he was awarded a BSc in electrical engineering, in part for his work at Apple (Hosch) -
Chief Scientist at Fusion-IO
Jumping ahead after his departure from Apple, Steve Wozniak eventually took a job as chief scientist for the flash drive company known as Fusion-IO before it was bought by SanDisk in 2014 (Hosch; Weintraub) That he was (and is) still actively involved in the world of electronics to the degree of being a primary scientist for companies is admirable, especially considering how lucrative the success of Apple was for him. -
