Daniel Kottke

The engineer who assembled and tested the first Apple I computer with fellow computer designer and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Kottke is one of the earliest employees of Apple Inc., with official employee number 12. His contribution to the personal computer revolution is undisputed, having assembled and tested the first Apple I with Wozniak in Steve Jobs's garage in 1976. Prior to the formation of Apple, Kottke was close friends with Jobs, whom he met at Reed College.

He spent an additional 8 years with Apple debugging Apple II printed circuit boards and building Apple III and Macintosh prototypes, as well as working on the design for the Macintosh keyboard. The Apple II gained a sizable amount of popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-selling personal computers of the 1970s and early 1980s. Kottke was one of the original members of the Macintosh development team, and his signature can be found embossed on the internal wall of early production Macintosh computers.

He went on to produce and host "The Next Step," a public-access cable TV interview show in Silicon Valley that focused on high-technology, spiritualism, holistic endeavors, the internet, and social networking.