Bill Gates is a man who doesn´t require any introduction. He is the undisputed richest man in the world and he dons the hat of a computer programmer, business magnate, and philanthropist. He is mostly renowned as the founder of the company, Microsoft. Here are some amazing facts about Bill Gates. Do pay attention and you could learn a thing or two from the life of arguably, the greatest mind in modern history.
- By the time he turned 17 years old, Bill Gates was already working on programs and inventing them. During his high school years, he reportedly sold a time-table program system to his school for $4,200. A tic tac toe game in a 2 player format was the first program written by the gifted man; the game allowed a single player to play tic tac toe with the computer.
- The man is the first person to surpass a net worth of $100 billion! He achieved that feat in 1999. During the time, the mass media specifically coined the term, ¨centibillionaire¨ for him.
- Bill Gates donates millions of dollars annually to his foundation. To be precise, the billionaire and his wife have collectively donated over $28 billion through their foundation, the Bill and Melinda Foundation! However, the man is not a firm believer of donating money to cancer research facilities; he is of the opinion that the entire world is already invested in finding cures for cancer. Instead, he focuses on eradicating malaria. He has promised to donate most of his cash to charity before passing away. Along with Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates has also pledged to donate half of his wealth to charities all over the world through the ¨Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge.¨
- If reports are to be believed, the man has only kept $10 million on each of his children´s will.
- Here is an interesting fact for you! If Bill Gates were identified as a country, his staggering net worth would make him the 37th richest country in the world!
- Were you aware of the fact that Bill Gates was once fired from his job? His boss then, an Atari programmer, Alan Miller, holds the distinct honour of being the only person to relieve Bill Gates of his duties.
- While he was at Harvard as a sophomore, he invented a pancake sorting algorithm that held the record of being the fastest solving solution in a combinatorics class for over 30 years!
- The man is known to have a strong interest in Da Vinci´s works. Back in 1994, he shelled out over $30 million to get his hands on a collection of writings by Leonardo Da Vinci.
