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Bill Gates

Origin: Seattle, Washington
(October 28, 1955)

Heroic Values: Achievement, Caring, Vision, Wisdom

Background

Bill Gates was the fourth William Gates in his family. He was keenly interested in mathematics and science in school, which led to an interest in computers at an early age. By following this passion he started a partnership called Micro-soft with his school friend, Paul Allen. This led to the creation of a version of the BASIC programming language for the new micro-computer.

In 1976 Microsoft became an independent company. Four years later they sold the DOS operating system to IBM and then licensed it to other computer companies. Using DOS as a base, Microsoft then developed a graphic user interface called Windows. The enormous success of Windows led Gates to become one of the richest men in the world.

At the beginning of the new century, Gates has begun to step back from managing Microsoft to focus on his philanthropic interests. The Gates Foundation aims to improve global health and learning and has donated billions of dollars to those causes. He and his wife have been awarded many times for their work with the foundation.

Sources

Wikipedia
The online encyclopedia

Microsoft.com
Gates' biography page

Gates Foundation
Bill and Linda Gates Foundation