Bill Gates

Bill Gates is an American businessman, philanthropist, computer programmer, and writer who was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington. He grew up in a family that valued education and competition, attending the private Lakeside School where he first discovered his passion for computing, writing a tic‑tac‑toe program on a GE time‑sharing system. After a brief stint at Harvard University, he dropped out in 1975 to co‑found Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen, a decision that sparked the personal‑computer revolution and eventually turned him into the youngest billionaire at age 31 following the 1986 IPO. For more than two decades Gates served as chief executive, president, and chairman, guiding Microsoft through landmark deals such as the IBM partnership that established MS‑DOS as a de facto standard and launching the Windows operating system that dominated the consumer market. In 2000 he shifted his focus toward global health, education, and poverty alleviation by co‑founding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which became the world’s largest private charitable organization and funded initiatives ranging from polio eradication to sanitation and pandemic preparedness. Beyond philanthropy, Gates has founded or chaired numerous enterprises including Cascade Investment, TerraPower, Breakthrough Energy, and Gates Ventures, and he remains a technology adviser to Microsoft while championing climate innovation and clean‑energy research. His public image evolved from a ruthless tech mogul to a revered humanitarian, earning him honors such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Order of the British Empire, and the Padma Bhushan, while also attracting scrutiny over antitrust battles and his involvement in controversial matters. Throughout his multifaceted career Gates has authored several books, including The Road Ahead and How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, and continues to influence both the technology sector and global policy debates.