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

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, 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 whi ...

student at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

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

at its peak. His microcomputers were competitors to

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

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 undergoi ...

. 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 a computer expo which, at its peak, was the largest and most internationally representative. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was c ...

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. The Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum was named after him.

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 a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. 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 German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

and served on the Eastern Front. Nixdorf joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in 1943.

German Federal Archives The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (, lit. "Federal Archive") are the national archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture ...

R 9361-IX KARTEI/30730112. In 1944 he was a member of the

1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring The Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. ''Hermann Göring'' (1st Paratroop Panzer Division ''Hermann Göring'' – abbreviated Fallschirm-Panzer-Div 1 ''HG'') was a German elite Luftwaffe Armoured warfare, armoured division. The ''HG'' saw action in ...

. Nixdorf 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 am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

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, Inc. 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 ...

Corp. There he gained knowledge of simple adding machines and met Walter Sprick, whose assistant he became. Leaving Remington to work at

, 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 () 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 Dortmund, as well as ...

. 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. 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 syste ...

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 Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite its name, the airport is actually located nea ...

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.