Sir Clive Sinclair, Pioneer In Home Computing And Electric Vehicles, Dies At 81

Sir Clive Sinclair, the British inventor who pioneered the home computing industry and created the earliest examples of hand-held calculators, flat-screen televisions and electric vehicles, died at the age of 81.

A Passion For Electronics: Born in 1940 in Surrey, England, Sinclair excelled at mathematics during his school years and published his first article in Practical Wireless magazine while still a student. His family experiences financial difficulties during his youth and he took jobs mowing lawns and cleaning a café to help make ends meet.

Sinclair eschewed higher education and initially made a living by selling mail-order miniature electronic kits to hobbyists. He authored the book “Practical Transistor Receivers Book 1” in 1959 and started his electronics company Sinclair Radionics in 1961 while taking an editorial position with the magazine Instrument Practice.

Bringing Tech To The Home: Sinclair first gained worldwide attention for introducing the pocket calculator in the 1970s and helped open desktop computing to a consumer audience with the launch of the ZX Spectrum home computer line in 1980 in both ready-to-use and build-it-yourself versions.

Sinclair’s product line helped to create the platform upon which the computer gaming industry was constructed, and his ZX Spectrum line influenced a new generation of tech-focused souls including Tesla TSLA chief Elon Musk, who tweeted a tribute to Sinclair and his crowning achievement by declaring “RIP, Sir Sinclair. I loved that computer.”

Some of Sinclair’s concepts were considered revolutionary during the 1970s and 1980s — including his Sinclair C5 three-wheel electric tricycle, TV80 pocket television and Black Watch digital wristwatch — but were plagued by design flaws and perceived lack of commercial value. Nonetheless, Sinclair’s role in advancing both the modern technology environment and British industry earned him a knighthood in 1983.

Ironically, Sinclair wasn't impressed with the advancements that redefined the digital world — he preferred telephone calls to email and declined to use the Internet because he found it annoying. He also warned about the over-reliance on mechanical solutions.

“Once you start to make machines that are rivaling and surpassing humans with intelligence,” he said in a 2014 interview, “it’s going to be very difficult for us to survive. It’s just an inevitability.”

Photos: Sir Clive Sinclair's photo courtesy of Christian Payne / Flickr Creative Commons; ZX80 photo courtesy of Daniel Ryde / Wikimedia Commons; photo of Sinclair C5 courtesy of Adam / Wikimedia Commons.