Heinz Nixdorf (April 9, 1925 – March 17, 1986) was a German computing pioneer, businessman and founder of

Nixdorf Computer AG Nixdorf Computer AG was a West German computer company founded by Heinz Nixdorf in 1952. Headquartered in Paderborn, Germany, it became the fourth largest computer company in Europe, and a worldwide specialist in banking and point-of-sale syste ...

. Nixdorf was born in

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The 27-year-old Nixdorf, at the time a

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

student, founded his first computer company in 1952. As the owner, he led this company to become an international electronics company with revenues of almost four billion

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

at its peak. His microcomputers were competitors to IBM

mainframes A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

. Nixdorf is remembered as one of the entrepreneurs who, in the 1950s to 1970s, symbolized the German

economic miracle Economic miracle is an informal economic term for a period of dramatic economic development that is entirely unexpected or unexpectedly strong. Economic miracles have occurred in the recent histories of a number of countries, often those undergoing ...

. He was also an ambitious athlete and is remembered for his efforts to provide good education to his employees. He succumbed to a heart attack in 1986 at the

CeBIT CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Early life

Nixdorf was born on April 9, 1925, as the oldest child of five. He went to a Catholic board school where he first showed his talent for

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

. Due to his father's unemployment during the 1920s and 30s, his childhood was defined by poverty. Achieving good grades in school, he was offered a scholarship to become a teacher. Uninterested in becoming that career, Nixdorf wrote a letter to the Ministry of Education in Berlin. As a result, he was granted permission to attend the Reismann- Gymnasium in Paderborn starting in 1941. In 1942, Nixdorf was drafted by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

and served on the Eastern Front. He completed his education in 1947, receiving the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

Education

With the aid of a scholarship, Nixdorf studied

at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 1947. In addition to his education in physics, he also attended seminars in business economics. In 1951 Nixdorf started working for the development department of

Remington Rand Remington Rand was an early American business machine manufacturer, originally a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers. Formed in 1927 following a merger, Remington Rand wa ...

Corp. There he gained knowledge of simple adding machines and met Walter Sprick, whose assistant he became. Leaving Remington to work at IBM, Sprick handed some of his work and inventions over to Nixdorf. Based on those concepts, Nixdorf developed the Elektronensaldierer and the Elektronenmultiplizierer.

Founding and development of the company

In 1952 Nixdorf founded the Labor für Impulstechnik in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. On September 5, 1952, Nixdorf hired his first employee, an electronics technician named Alfred Wierzioch. In 1954 they released their first vacuum-tube computer, called ''ES'', for the local electric utility company. From this point on the company grew rapidly, becoming a supplier of electronic computing devices to other companies, including Wanderer, at the time the leading German manufacturer of office machines. In 1959 the company moved to Paderborn where Nixdorf was born. Utilizing his connections there he had ambitious plans to grow his company. In 1961 his company had 60 employees. In 1965 the Wanderer Logatronic, an electronic desk calculator, was presented at

Hannover Messe The Hannover Messe (HM; "Hanover Fair") is one of the world's largest trade fairs, dedicated to the topic of industry development. It is organized by Deutsche Messe AG and held on the Hanover Fairground in Hanover, Germany. Typically, there are ...

. It was the first electronic calculator to use semiconductors, revolutionary for the time. In 1967, Nixdorf developed the Logatronic into the Nixdorf 820 in 1967, which was very successful. In 1968 Nixdorf bought Wanderer and renamed the company

Nixdorf Computer Nixdorf Computer AG was a West German computer company founded by Heinz Nixdorf in 1952. Headquartered in Paderborn, Germany, it became the fourth largest computer company in Europe, and a worldwide specialist in banking and point-of-sale syst ...

AG.

National and international success

The national and international success of the brand started in the 70s. By 1985 the company's revenue was about four billion D-Mark and it employed 24,000 people in 44 countries. Nixdorf died of a heart attack on March 17, 1986, at the

in Hannover.

Nixdorf as an employer

Nixdorf was invested in the education of his employees, which he promoted with a lot of personal effort and money. In 1969 he founded a trade school on the company premises. Furthermore, he supported the Universität-Gesamthochschule Paderborn. He also enabled his employees to exercise physically, offering sports courses and building the Ahorn-Sportpark in Paderborn in 1984. The sports park was also open to the public, and is still free of charge today. Nixdorf also played an instrumental role in the building of Paderborn airport, after threatening to move the company to

if no adequate infrastructure were provided. The

Paderborn Lippstadt Airport Paderborn Lippstadt Airport (German: ''Flughafen Paderborn Lippstadt'') is a minor international airport in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe area in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. While the name implies a location within the city of Paderborn ...

was built and was opened in 1971. Its construction cost was 13.7 million D-Mark.

Personal life

Nixdorf married Renate Ring in 1960. The couple had three sons, one of whom, Martin Nixdorf, is the current chairman of the Heinz-Nixdorf-Stiftung and the Stiftung Westfalen.

References

External links

Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixdorf, Heinz 1925 births 1986 deaths People from Paderborn People from the Province of Westphalia German military personnel of World War II Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia Diebold Nixdorf