Charles Simonyi is an Hungarian-American software architect born on 10 September, 1948. He played a big role in bringing the graphical user interface (GUI) to Bill Gates for the first time. Gates was impressed by this and called it one of the two most groundbreaking things he ever experienced.
Simonyi also led the team at Microsoft that created the early versions of Microsoft Office. Later on, he started a company called Intentional Software which Microsoft eventually bought in 2017. The focus of this company was on intentional programming a concept Simonyi had developed.
Beyond his work in technology, Simonyi is known for being the fifth space tourist. He went to space for the first time in 2007 on Soyuz TMA-10 and then again in 2009 on Soyuz TMA-14 becoming the second Hungarian to visit the International Space Station.
| Full Name | Charles Simonyi |
| Date of Birth | September 10, 1948 |
| Place of Birth | Budapest, Hungary |
| Occupation | Computer Scientist |
| Height | 5’10” |
| Spouse | Lisa Persdotter Simonyi |
| Children | None (as of my last update) |
| Net Worth | $6 billion |
Charles Simonyi Early Life and Education
Charles Simonyi was born in Budapest, Hungary. His dad Károly Simonyi was a professor of electrical engineering at the Technical University of Budapest. He made the first nuclear particle accelerator in Hungary. When Simonyi was in high school he worked part-time as a night guard at a computer lab in the early 1960s. He looked after a big Soviet Ural II computer. He got interested in computers and learned to write programs from one of the lab’s engineers.
When he finished school he knew how to make compilers and sold one to a government department. He showed his compiler to a group of Danish computer experts. In 2006, he said that when he was young his dream was to leave Hungary go to the West and be free.
Career
At 17 Charles Simonyi left Hungary on a short visit but didn’t go back. He got a job in Denmark at A/S Regnecentralen in 1966 and worked on a minicomputer system. Then he moved to the U.S. in 1968 to study at UC Berkeley. He earned a degree in Engineering Mathematics & Statistics in 1972. Later he got honorary degrees from Juilliard School in New York and the University of Pecs in Hungary.
Simonyi worked at Xerox PARC with Lampson Kay and Metcalfe on the Xerox Alto one of the first personal computers. He made Bravo the first program for preparing documents in 1974. Simonyi got his PhD in computer science from Stanford University in 1977. His dissertation talked about a way to manage software projects better.
He became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. He’s also part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2008. Since 1998 he’s been on the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
In 1981, Charles Simonyi met Bill Gates at Microsoft and started an applications group there. He made Word and Excel which became very successful. He left Microsoft in 2002 and started Intentional Software with Gregor Kiczales. This company uses a new way to write programs.
In 2004, he got an award for his work in information technology. In 2017, Microsoft bought Intentional Software.
Net Worth
Charles Simonyi has an estimated net worth of $6 Billion, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The main source of Charles Simonyi’s net worth comes from his career as a software developer and entrepreneur. He played a key role in creating Microsoft Office, which became very successful. Later, he founded his own company which also contributed to his wealth.
Personal life
Charles Simonyi was in a long relationship with Martha Stewart until 2008. He then married Lisa Persdotter a woman much younger than him and the daughter of a wealthy Swedish person in a private ceremony attended by friends like Bill Gates. They have two daughters together.
Simonyi became a citizen of the United States in 1982.
He used to spend half of the year on a huge yacht named Skat but sold it in 2021. Now he owns another yacht called NORN which is even bigger.
Charles Simonyi lives in a cool house called “Villa Simonyi” in Medina Washington. It’s designed by an architect named Wendell Lovett and has some cool paintings by artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Victor Vasarely.
Simonyi was interested in space and went on two trips to the International Space Station (ISS). He was the fifth person to travel as a space tourist and the only one who went twice by paying his way. He’s also into amateur radio and talked to schools while in space. He supports a museum in Seattle that has cool space stuff.
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Philanthropy
Charles Simonyi is someone who gives a lot of money to help others. In 1995, he set up a special position at Oxford University to help people understand science better. Richard Dawkins was the first person in this position and now Marcus du Sautoy is doing it. Simonyi also created a special teaching position at Stanford University which Eric S. Roberts held for a while. In 2005 he gave $25 million to create a job for someone who studies math and physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey. Edward Witten has been doing that job since then.
In 2003, Charles Simonyi started a fund to support art science and education projects in Seattle. This fund gave money to places like the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Public Library. It also helped places like the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School. The fund also supported the building of the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The fund closed in 2013 after giving away $100 million.
In 2017, Simonyi and his wife Lisa donated $5 million to help finish a new building for the Computer Science and Engineering department at the University of Washington.
