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| Smart Computing® Encyclopedia |
| Sir Clive Sinclair | ||
| Among British inventor Sir Clive Sinclair’s many inventions and contributions,
his most noted achievement is that of producing an affordable personal computer
in the early 1980s. By far, the most famous and successful of his many products,
the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer (often referred to as Speccy), earned Sinclair
a fortune, a knighthood for “services to British industry,” and a lasting
place in British history. Sinclair was born in 1940 in London. His career choice comes as no surprise as his father and grandfather were engineers. At age 10, his preparatory school announced that it could teach him no further in math, so he began the secondary phase of his education. While still a student, Sinclair independently invented the binary system of 1s and 0s for use in a prototype calculator and was upset to learn that someone else had already invented what he thought was a new system. Believing that he could learn for himself anything he wanted to know, Sinclair chose not to pursue a university education. He instead accepted a job as an editorial assistant for Practical Wireless magazine, which he soon found himself running single-handedly. Sinclair later managed Bernards Publishers. Both jobs left him plenty of time to design circuits and write, in addition to his editorial duties. In 1961, Sinclair registered his own company, Sinclair Radionics, but when his backing withdrew, he temporarily returned to the publishing business at United Trade Press. He used this job to make valuable connections with various manufacturers in the industry. Sinclair based Sinclair Radionics on the philosophy of producing in bulk and selling cheaply, but the company only lasted until 1979. During the 1960s and 1970s, Sinclair developed and sold a number of electronic items, including amplifiers, calculators, radios, and digital wristwatches. By 1979, there was an established market for personal computers in Britain, with Commodore, Tandy, and Apple leading the way. The problem was that these machines were extremely expensive and used more in laboratories and commercial and teaching environments than in homes. Sinclair recognized a need for an affordable computer that still offered all the essential features found in the more expensive models. To this end, he created and released the Sinclair ZX80 in 1980. It came as either an assembled computer or in a less expensive kit form. To save money, the ZX80 used a domestic television set as a screen and a cassette drive for program and data storage, and sold for less than £100 as an assembled unit in the United Kingdom. The Sinclair ZX81 followed in 1981, offering improved features and fixes to the bugs found in the previous model and carrying an even smaller price tag of £69.95 (again, a less expensive kit form was also available). Sinclair promised the release of a printer to accompany the computer and offered special deals to schools that purchased the system. Sinclair’s computers spurred users clubs, as well as several magazines and books about using his computers. Sinclair intended for the ZX80 and ZX81 to be learning machines—tools for those who wanted to gain experience in the basic use and programming of computers. The problem was that once users gained this experience, they began wishing for a more powerful computer. With this in mind, Sinclair released the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1982. Besides offering more memory, it provided a sound generator and higher-resolution graphics. Although the system became popular in the game-playing arena, this was not Sinclair’s intention. Even so, Sinclair still achieved his goal: The ZX Spectrum was a bestseller in the home computer market and familiarized many users with the joys of home computing. Plus, Sinclair succeeded at marketing his computer overseas, leading to a partnership with Timex Computer Corp., from 1981 to 1983 that resulted in the Timex Sinclair 1000 (also called TS 1000) computer model and subsequent versions for the U.S. market. Due to quality and customer service problems, the partnership ended when financial losses forced Timex to drop its personal computer product line. Sinclair launched another computer, the Sinclair QL (Quantum Leap), in 1984. However, his refusal to produce any game software and his inability to meet the level of quantity demanded ultimately dissuaded customers from purchasing it. In 1988, Sinclair released another computer, the Z88, which was more portable and included software similar in purpose to applications found in early PDAs (personal digital assistants), such as a calendar, word processor, spreadsheet, and diary. During the 1970s and 1980s, Sinclair had a collection of businesses, such as Sinclair Research and Cambridge Computer, to manage his many and varied inventions, including pocket televisions and the Sinclair C5, a small electric vehicle (for personal transportation) powered by batteries. Sinclair also received a diploma from the King’s College, Cambridge, and served as a visiting professor for the Department of Electronic Engineering at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. In addition, Sinclair was chairman of the British Mensa from 1980 until 1997. | ||
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