Wendell Sander

Dr. Wendell B. Sander was the first staff scientist at Apple Computer. He is considered the "father of the Apple III" 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 also recommended fellow Iowa State graduate Thomas Whitney for the engineering department. The two worked on the Apple II series. Whitney became Executive Vice President of Engineering and focused on recruiting while Sander began designing the Apple III. Sander 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. '

The Apple III project was code-named "Sara" after Sander's daughter. The specifications were defined by a committee and Sanders was given 10 months to implement the project. Jobs oversaw details of the design, such as the omission of a cooling fan because it would have been "too noisy and inelegant". Many Apple III units began malfunctioning after its initial release in 1980. Apple technician Dan Kottke discovered that the units were overheating, causing chips to pop out of their sockets. Sander stated that the Apple III had been rushed to market 6 to 9 months too early. Whitney was fired from Apple in 1980 and Sander also left the company in August 1982.

Sander and other former Apple engineers then formed a technical design firm called The Engineering Department in Campbell, California.

Apple Inc.
In July 2005, 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 was responsible for developing the volume controls on Apple's EarPods and was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer, Scientist or Technologist (DEST). He received over 100 patents.

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