During the recent TPUG Meeting on April 20th, 2023, Nico had the opportunity to conduct a Zoom interview with Leonard Tramiel. Tramiel holds a bachelor of science degree in physics from Santa Clara University, as well as a master of arts, master of philosophy, and doctorate of philosophy degrees, all in physics, from Columbia University.
Tramiel joined his father and brothers at Atari after completing his graduate studies, where he served as vice president of software and oversaw a team of twelve programmers. He worked on various products at Atari, including the Commodore PET, Atari ST/TT line of computers, and the Atari Jaguar console.
Tramiel, who retired from Atari at 42, has devoted himself to advancing science education. He collaborated with the California Department of Education to enhance the caliber of science textbooks, as highlighted in Forbes magazine on October 30, 2000. Furthermore, Tramiel has been an enthusiastic astronomy instructor for eighth-graders for the last ten years and has also volunteered at the Chabot Space and Science Center since 2000.