Pioneering home computer company of the
1980s, largely controlled by its founder, Sir [Clive Sinclair]
?. Formed in the
1961 as
Sinclair Radionics, selling electronics components, audio amplifiers, radios, small TVs, pocket calculators and digital watches. In the early
1980s, the company split into two parts as
Thandar Electronics and
Science of Cambridge, the latter renamed as
Sinclair Computers and then
Sinclair Research, which rose to success with the release of the
ZX80,
ZX81 and the
ZX Spectrum home computers. The comapny followed these successful products with the
Sinclair QL (short for Quantum Leap) which, despite its technical merits, sold poorly. The [C5 electric car]
?, a supposedly cheap and efficient form of transport from the spin-off company
Sinclair Vehicles, was perhaps a bigger commercial disaster. The rights to all Sinclair Research computer products were bought by Amstrad
? in 1986. Sinclair Research continues to exist and its founder continues to work in research, recently inventing an ear-piece radio and an electric bicycle motor.
See http://www.sinclair-research.co.uk/