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Charles “Chuck” Peddle, a 1959 graduate of the College of Maine’s engineering program whose 1975 invention of a microprocessor paved the way in which for the period of private computing, died Dec. 15 at his residence in California, in line with an obituary his household shared with the Bangor Day by day Information. He was 82.
The College of Maine honored Peddle this spring with its Edward T. Bryand Engineering Award, on the 60th anniversary of his commencement from UMaine. The UMaine Alumni Basis awarded him its Profession Award, additionally in April.
“It was such an honor to satisfy Chuck Peddle when he returned to his alma mater this spring,” UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy mentioned. “His Maine roots and UMaine engineering training had been the muse for his actually inspirational profession. His legendary imaginative and prescient, expertise and entrepreneurial spirit modified our world. He was a private laptop pioneer and his legacy lives on.”
Peddle was born in Bangor and grew up in Augusta. After graduating from Cony Excessive Faculty, he enrolled at UMaine, not sure of what discipline to check. After enrolling in one of many college’s first-ever laptop engineering lessons, he rapidly turned a convert to the burgeoning discipline.
After graduating, Peddle served within the U.S. Marine Corps, after which labored for Normal Electrical and Motorola earlier than becoming a member of a small engineering agency, MOS Applied sciences, which was then bought by Commodore Enterprise Machines. There, Peddle and his group in 1975 invented the 6502, a microprocessor with a client value of simply $25, far beneath the standard price of a microprocessor in these days.
The 6502 attracted the eye of none apart from Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who had been then members of the legendary Homebrew Laptop Membership within the space that’s now often known as Silicon Valley.
“Chuck Peddle’s contribution to the world goes a lot additional than the beginning of private computer systems, to numerous embedded processor functions,” Wozniak advised Maine Alumni Journal earlier this 12 months. “Chuck’s title is completely well-known amongst techies who return to the beginning of our trendy tech life.”
Peddle’s 6502 drove the creation of the primary extensively used private computer systems: the Commodore PET, which debuted in 1977; the Commodore VIC, launched in 1980; and the Commodore 64, which hit the market in 1982 and stays the best-selling laptop of all time. The 6502 was later utilized in computer systems such because the Apple II and within the authentic Nintendo Leisure System.
A well-known anecdote within the laptop business is the story of how Peddle negotiated a cope with a younger Invoice Gates to make use of Gates’ programming language, BASIC, to energy the Commodore PET. Gates agreed to a one-time, perpetual-use licensing payment for BASIC, which Gates later acknowledged was one of many worst offers of his lengthy profession.
Peddle was an early advocate for private computing, and envisioned not simply how indispensable computer systems would turn out to be within the lives of most individuals, but in addition foresaw the creation of the World Huge Internet, and the methods through which computer systems may very well be used for training.
Peddle is survived by his companion of 35 years, Kathleen Shaeffer, and his six kids, Debbie, Diana, Cheryl, Thomas, Robert and Vernon.
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