• Bill Gates is an American entrepreneur best known for co-founding the software company Microsoft. Gates was named as the world's richest man by Forbes in 2006, but was surpassed by Warren Buffet in 2007. Gates has also been an philanthropist for many years, establishing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charitable foundation in the world.

  While speaking at the technology and design conference TED, Gates released a swarm of mosquitoes on the audience while speaking about malaria eradication and said "Not only poor people should experience this." Audience members reported the incident through the micro-blogging platform Twitter. TED later confirmed that the mosquitoes were not malarial.SMH.com.au: Bill Gates releases swarm of mosquitoes on audience

• Fast Facts:

  1. Full Name: William Henry Gates III
  2. Born: October 28, 1955
  3. Birthplace: Seattle, WA
  4. Spouse: Melinda Gates
  5. Children: Jennifer Katharine Gates (b. 1996), Rory John Gates (b. 1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (b. 2002)
  6. Net Worth: $56 Billion (2007)
  7. Director of Berkshire Hathaway
  8. Gave University of Cambridge $210 million through his foundation

• History

  Gates grew up in Seattle, Washington and took an early interest in computers exploring the GE computer donated to his middle school. He later commented on that period in his life and interest in computers with, "There was just something neat about the machine." After scoring a 1590 out of 1600 on his SAT's Gates enrolled in Harvard University in 1973, but took a leave two years later to develop the Microsoft empire. At Harvard, Gates met fellow business partner, Steve Ballmer. Soon after leaving Harvard, Microsoft struck a deal with IBM, which placed Gates' company as a major player in the software industry.

Categories