Electronics Engineers

Widely recognized as one of the two important pioneers of the personal computer revolution, Steve Wozniak is credited with co-founding Apple Inc. along with Steve Jobs. Not surprisingly, he has been described as one of the men that changed the course of history through technology. Apart from being a programmer and technology entrepreneur, Steve Wozniak is also a well-known philanthropist.

Ren Zhengfei is a Chinese engineer and entrepreneur. He is credited with founding Huawei, the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones and the largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment in the world. He also serves as the CEO of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. In 2005, Ren Zhengfei was named in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world list.

Former Intel marketing manager Mike Markkula was able to retire at 32 with millions in his bank, owing to his intelligent stock trading decisions. He later became an angel investor for Steve Jobs’s Apple and also the company’s second CEO. He was later also associated with companies such as Echelon.

American engineer Robert Noyce, who co-invented the integrated circuit, later gained the nickname the Mayor of Silicon Valley. The co-founder of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, Noyce is also said to have given Silicon Valley its name with his invention that included a silicon microchip. He was also a swimming champion.

Nobel Prize-winning engineer Jack Kilby is best remembered for his contribution to the development of the integrated circuit. Born to an electrical engineer, he had his first brush with gadgets as an amateur radio operator. Initially a Texas Instruments employee, he later also taught at the Texas A&M University.

Robert Moog was an engineering physicist widely regarded as the pioneer of electronic music.  He launched the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesizer, in 1964. A few years later, he launched the Minimoog, which went on to become the most famous and influential synthesizer in history. He taught at the University of North Carolina in his later years. 

Telecom magnate Mo Ibrahim was born in Sudan and educated in Egypt and the U.K. His company Celtel International was one of the pioneers in the mobile phone industry in Africa and the Middle East. He was featured on Forbes’s billionaire’s list and offers scholarships for African students through his foundation.

A Stanford engineer and a Cambridge PhD, Ray Dolby had first experimented with electronic gadgets while working part-time for Ampex in his teenage years. The Dolby Laboratories founder later pioneered the surround sound technology in movies and the noise-reduction system in tapes. His honors include an Emmy and two Academy Awards.

DuMont Television Network founder Allen B. DuMont is remembered for his development of the first commercial cathode-ray tube, later used as a receiver for the modern-day TV. He had first developed an interest in electronics while reading books on the subject while bedridden due to polio as a child.

British-Australian physicist and engineer Derek Abbott also teaches at the University of Adelaide. He has been associated with many scientific journals and has also been featured in publications such as The New York Times. Abbott also worked on the baffling Somerton Man case, which remains unsolved to this day.

Electrical engineer and physicist Louis Alan Hazeltine is best remembered for his invention of the neutrodyne circuit, which contributed to the development of commercial radio. The Hazeltine Corporation founder was also a US Navy consultant and had taught at his alma, the Stevens Institute of Technology.