Wozniak has shared the story of his brush with the law in high school following reports of Texas student Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest for building a clock.
The case of Mohamed’s arrest has been in the news this week, highlighting discrimination and drawing support from notable figures including Wozniak and U.S. President Barack Obama. Mohamed was arrested at his school in Texas for bringing a homemade clock to class, which security mistakenly believed was a bomb.
Wozniak recounts story of fake bomb which landed him in jail
For Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak the incident served as a reminder of his own past, and he took to Facebook to share the story.
“I built an electronic metronome and placed it in a friend’s locker, along with a tin-foil switch to speed up the ticking when the locker was opened,” he wrote.
Wozniak goes on to recount how the principal extracted what he thought was a bomb and dismantled it. The tech genius “wound up spending a night in ‘juvie'” for his efforts, and later went on to work at the most successful tech company in history.
However before he was released, Woz claims that he taught fellow inmates “how they could remove the electric wires from an overhead fan and attach them to the metal bars no (sic) shock the guards.” Thankfully he later put his expertise to more benign use.
Story of teenage Texas clock maker hits global headlines
14-year-old Mohamed took his homemade clock to school to impress his teacher, but ended up being arrested as Wozniak was. His case has drawn widespread media coverage and even led to an invite to the White House from President Obama.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also spoke out in support of the young prodigy, and it seems as though Mohamed will not be short of job offers once he finally finishes school.
Although Mohamed has received a huge amount of support, he was understandably shaken up by the incident. “I have lost my innocence. I can never look at the world in the same way,” he told The Independent. “I like science, but I look like a threat because of my brown skin.”
