SCIENTISTS (1950–???); SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

Steve Wozniak is n’t the first Steve most the great unwashed associate with Apple , but without " The Woz , " the tech giant — and yes , that include your iPhone and iPad — wouldn’t exist today . Wozniak was 26 years quondam when he co - founded Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976 , and though he left the company before its explosion in popularity in a post - iPod earth , he ’s credit with the development of the Apple I and Apple II — the company ’s first computers and landmark in personal electronics . Here are more facts about Steve Wozniak .

1. One of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs’s first collaborations was a prank.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs fulfil as teenagers through mutual booster and eventual Apple employeeBill Fernandez . Fernandez was hanging out with Jobs one daylight when he take in Wozniak , whom he had have intercourse since age 5 , wash his car outdoors . Fernandez have it away both of his friends were into electronics , so he innovate them think they would hit it off . The brace ’s love of engineering would finally change the world , but it was their shared phylogenetic relation for pranks that kicked off their relationship .

Before the graduation ceremonial occasion at Homestead High School , Jobs and Wozniak snuck a gargantuan textile posting onto the roof of the schooling building . The banner featured a delineation of a manus sticking up its center finger , and it was to be unfurled in front of the crowd of parent watch their kids fine-tune ( Jobs was also graduating that day ) . While they come closely to pull their frivolity off , another pupil found out about it and it was take down before it was unwrap , agree toThe Atlantic .

2. Steve Wozniak’s Apple I computer was rejected by Hewlett-Packard five times.

In 1975 , Steve Wozniak begin attending group meeting at a local Homebrew Computer Club , a mathematical group dedicated to engineering newfangled computer ironware and showing it off to other niche enthusiasts . The nightspot help oneself instigate Woz to try his deal at designing his own spell of computer hardware , which , accord to Inc. , combined the input signal key of a typewriter with a television silver screen to act as an end product display . Since he was employed at the time by Hewlett - Packard , where he design the company ’s line of calculators , Wozniak showed his newfangled machine to his employers to gauge their interest .

But this was the mid-’70s , and the thinking of an average person possess a computer just was n’t on many companies ' radar . Wozniak ’s computer was rejected by HP five times , but he did n’t give up — eventually , Jobs convinced Wozniak they could deal it on their own , run to the formation of the Apple Computer Company in 1976 . The information processing system was now do it as the Apple I , and the initial run of 200 was assemble by hand and each be around $ 250 to establish , according toWozniak . Each computer then sold at retail for $ 666.66 ( Wozniak liked restate digits ) . Anyone who buy it needed to supplytheir owncase , keyboard , and monitor .

A year afterward , Wozniak better upon the design , micturate it gentle for consumers to use the data processor in good order out of the box . That , of course of action , became theApple II .

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3. Steve Wozniak’s net worth is $100 million.

In 1985 , Steve Wozniak stepped down from his role at Apple to foundCL 9 , the tech company responsible for the first general remote control . While he ’s famous for being the co - founder who left Apple , he ’s stilltechnically an employeethere . He has no creative controller , but in a podcast interview , he said he encounter " $ 50 a week or something " from the company after money is taken out for preservation and taxation . His decision to stay put on the payroll for so many years was a symbolic motion of loyalty to the company he helped create . That ’s obviously a miniscule per centum of his full hazard : In 2017 , Steve Wozniak ’s net Charles Frederick Worth was judge at roughly$100 million .

4. Steve Wozniak’s wife Janet Hill was an Apple employee.

Apple has also act a purpose in Steve Wozniak ’s personal life . In 2008 , he wed Apple education ontogeny executiveJanet Hill . It was his quaternary marriage keep abreast his divorce from Alice Robertson , Candice Clark , and Suzanne Mulkern . Today Steve Wozniak lives with his better half inLos Gatos , California .

5. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs remained friendly until Jobs’s death.

Though they separate ways professionally , Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs continue on good terms . Wozniak told theBBCthat he and Jobs “ were friends to the end . ” In aReddit AMA , he said that the door at Apple was always open for him even after he left the company in 1985 . “ I could occur by , Steve Jobs would always make trusted I had a badge that could get me into any construction , ” he said . “ I did n’t utilise it much , but I can go there . The only bother is I ’ll get pile . ”

6. Steve Wozniak is a hugeStar Trekfan.

According to Wozniak , his womb-to-tomb love ofStar Trekhelped shape the person he is today . In plus to fortify his moral codification , the sci - fi show also stoke his passion for technology . “ I ’m not sure I would ’ve had the inspiration that I had to ever start Apple , and do all these technical things , and I do n’t think I would ’ve had the meaning in my life if I had n’t gone toStar Trekconventions when I was vernal , ” he toldHuffPost . “ [ These ] were such of import thing to me . ”

Memorable Steve Wozniak Quotes

Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak (right) attend San Francisco’s West Coast Computer Faire in 1977 for the debut of the Apple II, a milestone for personal computers.

Steve Wozniak was the primary developer of the Apple II, which would be Apple’s first consumer product.

Steve Wozniak meets the incomprable Mr. Rogers.

In 2012, an original Apple I, developed by Steve Wozniak in 1976, went up for auction.

In 2006, Steve Wozniak released an autobiography about his life and career, titled iWoz.