Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955), commonly known as Bill Gates, is the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft. He is the richest person in world.

Bill Gates was born in Seattle. He is of British and German ancestry. His father was a lawyer. His mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate Banc System and the United Way. His parents wanted him to be a lawyer. At the age of 13, Bill went to Lakeside High School.

He was a freshman at Harvard University in 1973. He left Harvard to make software. Bill Gates saw an opportunity to transform the personal computer, which used to be a hard-to-use and expensive device. He saw that computers could be made less expensive and more easy to use. Gates started Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen.

In 2006, Gates announced he was going to quit his job at Microsoft. This was so he could do more charity work with his wife, Melinda. Their charity is called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates' philanthropy projects have included vaccination of children in sub-Saharan Africa, scholarship programs in the United States, and leadership to help organize other billionaires to redistribute their wealth. He likes to give money and support to human rights, education and technological innovation.

Gates stepped down from his CEO position in Microsoft in 1998 and Steve Ballmer did the job instead. On June 16, 2007, Microsoft said that Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, will come in on a day-to-day schedule to continue working with his charity organization full-time for the years to come. On 2014, Satya Nadella became the new CEO of Microsoft and Bill Gates came back as the Chief Technology Adviser.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports the use of genetically modified organisms in agricultural development. Specifically, the foundation is supporting the International Rice Research Institute in developing Golden Rice, a genetically modified rice variant used to combat Vitamin A deficiency.