Charles Simonyi

{ "bio": [ "Early Microsoft employee Charles Simonyi is the man behind some of the company's most successful software, including Word and Excel.", "The developer has a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford, and worked on one of the first personal computers at Xerox.", "He joined Microsoft, then a fledgling firm, as employee No. 40 in 1981, and spent two decades in application development.", "A native of Hungary, he left Microsoft and in 2002 and founded Intentional Software, which develops platforms for productivity apps.", "Microsoft acquired Intentional Software in 2017 for an undisclosed price, bringing Simonyi back to the Redmond, Washington giant.", "He supports arts and science initiatives, including a $5 million gift to the University of Washington for a computer science building in 2017." ], "about": [ "Simonyi paid $60 million to jet to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket in 2007 and 2009, making him the only tourist to have visited space twice.", "Simonyi worked as a night watchman in a computer lab as a teenager, which allowed him to use the machines after everyone had left." ] }