Wendell Sander

Dr. Wendell B. Sander was the first staff scientist at Apple Computer.

Education
Wendell received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Iowa State University in 1956, 1962, and 1963, respectively.

Career
Sander spent 13 years at Fairchild Semiconductor as a department head of a research & development laboratory.

Apple Computer
In 1976, Sander acquired and modified an Apple I computer, with which he wrote a Star Trek game that impressed Apple Computer Company co-founder Steve Jobs. He was hired in August 1977 as the newly-incorporated Apple Computer's 16th employee and first staff scientist. Sander recommended fellow Iowa State graduate Thomas Whitney for the engineering department. The two worked on the Apple II series. Whitney became vice president of engineering and focused on recruiting while Sander designed the Apple III. Sander also consolidated Steve Wozniak's Disk II controller into a single chip, commonly called the "Integrated Woz Machine", but also known as the "Integrated Wendell Machine". . Macintosh team member Andy Hertzfeld considered Sander one of Apple's best engineers.

Apple Inc.
Sander returned to Apple to work for his son Brian, also a graduate of Iowa State and a young executive at Apple Inc.; the two collaborated in engineering the circuitry of iPods and iPhones. The elder Sander received over 100 patents and was responsible for developing the volume controls on Apple's earpods.

After retiring in 2010, Sander assisted the History San José organization in restoring an Apple I computer in their Perham Collection to working order.

Interviews

 * An Interview with Wendell Sander, Ph.D. by David Ottalini, The /// Magazine p.8-11 at DigiBarn Computer Museum (1986-11)