In , he co-founded Apple Computer with his early business partner Steve Jobs. Through his work at Apple in the s and s, he is widely recognized as one of the most prominent pioneers of the personal computer revolution. He was the primary designer of the Apple II , introduced in , known as one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers , [ 6 ] while Jobs oversaw the development of its foam-molded plastic case and early Apple employee Rod Holt developed its switching power supply.
With humanโcomputer interface expert Jef Raskin , Wozniak had a major influence over the initial development of the original Macintosh concepts from to , when Jobs took over the project following Wozniak's brief departure from the company due to a traumatic airplane accident. He then pursued several other businesses and philanthropic ventures throughout his career, focusing largely on technology in Kโ12 schools. As of June , Wozniak has remained an employee of Apple in a ceremonial capacity since stepping down in He also has one sister, Leslie Wozniak.
She attended Homestead High School in Cupertino. She once said it was her mother who introduced activism to her and her siblings. The name on Wozniak's birth certificate is "Stephan Gary Wozniak", but his mother said that she intended it to be spelled "Stephen", which is what he uses.
In , Wozniak returned to the San Francisco Bay Area after being expelled from the University of Colorado Boulder in his first year for hacking the university's computer system.
Predating useful microprocessors, screens, and keyboards, and using punch cards and only 20 TTL chips donated by an acquaintance, they named it "Cream Soda" after their favorite beverage. A newspaper reporter stepped on the power supply cable and blew up the computer, but it served Wozniak as "a good prelude to my thinking 5 years later with the Apple I and Apple II computers".
