Gates was born in 1955, grew up in Seattle, and has two sisters. His father, william gates II, is a Seattle lawyer. His stepmother, mary gates, is a teacher, a director of the University of Washington and the chairman of the United International Organization.
Gates attended a public elementary school and a private lakeside middle school in Seattle. There, he discovered his interest in software and started computer programming at the age of 13.
1973, Gates was admitted to Harvard University, where he lived with steve ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. At Harvard, Gates developed a BASIC programming language for the first microcomputer, MITS Altair.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard and devoted all his energy to the Microsoft Company founded by him and his childhood friend paul allen at 1975. Guided by the belief that computers will become the most important tool in every home and office, they began to develop software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his foresight in personal computing have become the key to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.
Under the leadership of Gates, Microsoft constantly develops and improves software technology to make software easier to use, more economical and more interesting. The company is committed to long-term development, as can be seen from the current R&D expenditure of more than $4 billion per fiscal year.
From 65438 to 0999, Gates compiled the book Future Speed, which showed people how computer technology can solve business problems in a brand-new way. This book is published in 25 languages in more than 60 countries. Future Speed won wide acclaim and was listed as a best seller by The New York Times, USA-Today, Amazon.com and The Wall Street Journal. Gates' last book, The Way Forward, was published in 1995, and once topped the The New York Times bestseller list for seven weeks in a row.
Gates donated all the proceeds of the two books to non-profit organizations to support the use of science and technology in education and skills training.
In addition to his passion for computers and software, Gates is also interested in biotechnology. He is the chairman of ICOS, a company specializing in matrix and small molecule therapy in protein. He is also an investor in many other biotechnology companies. Gates also founded Corbis, which is researching and developing one of the largest visual information resources in the world-a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography works from public and private collections around the world. In addition, Gates also invested in Teledesic with Craig McCaw, a pioneer in mobile phones. This is an ambitious plan, using hundreds of low-orbit satellites to provide two-way broadband telecommunications services covering the whole world.
For Gates, philanthropy is also very important. He and his wife Melinda have donated more than $2 1 billion to set up a fund to support global charities in the fields of medical care and knowledge learning, hoping that as mankind enters the 2 1 century, scientific and technological progress in these key fields will benefit all mankind. Up to today, the foundation established by Gates and his wife Melinda Gates has spent more than $2 billion on global health and more than $500 million on improving people's learning conditions, including purchasing computer equipment for Gates Library and providing Internet training and Internet access services for public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 200 million yuan will be used for community projects in the Pacific Northwest, and more than 29 million dollars will be used for some special projects and annual gift distribution activities.
Gates and Melinda Gates of France got married in June 1994 65438+ 10/. They have two children: daughter Jennifer Katharine Gates, born in1996; Son Rory John Gates was born in 1999.
Gates is an avid reader and likes playing golf and bridge.