Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (1940-2021)
Clive Sinclair in the television show “Database” on Thames Television in 1985 [source].
Clive Sinclair, a British pioneer in the personal computer industry, died of cancer. An entrepreneur passionate about electronic technologies, he came up with innovative products such as the world’s first portable television, the Microvision, one of the first pocket calculators, the Sinclair Executive, and an electronic LED-display watch, the Black Watch. But it’s his forays into the world of microcomputing that made him world famous. In 1980, with the intent of democratizing access to computing, he launched the ZX80, a very affordable computer that connected directly to a standard television set. The device, built around a Zilog Z80 and with 1KB of RAM, was an immediate success and led many to learn about BASIC language and how computers work. The ZX80 was replaced the following year by the ZX81, which offered a more readable keyboard, expandable memory and a cleaner design. The ZX Spectrum, the first ZX with a color display, was launched in 1982. In 1984, Sinclair tried to attract professional customers with the Sinclair QL, a computer equipped with a Motorola 68008 processor and 128KB of RAM, using storage on a mini magnetic-tape cartridge reader, the ZX Microdrive developed as an option for the ZX Spectrum. Unfortunately, the Sinclair QL was a resounding failure, which led Sinclair to sell his Sinclair Research business to competitor Amstrad. The inventor returned to computers in 1987 with an LCD laptop, the Cambridge Z88, which met with modest success in a market that was much more crowded than in the early 1980s.
Sinclair ZX81. © iStock.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Bill Bertram, licence CC BY-SA 2.5.
⇨ Ars Technica, Sam Machkovech, “RIP Sir Clive Sinclair, creator of UK’s famed ZX Spectrum gaming computer.”
⇨ Eurogamer, Dan Whitehead, “In memory of Sir Clive Sinclair.”
2021-09-20
