The 27-year-old Nixdorf, at the time a physics 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 at its peak. His microcomputers were competitors to IBM mainframes. Nixdorf is remembered as one of the entrepreneurs who, in the 1950s to 1970s, symbolized the German economic miracle. 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 in Hanover.