Wales, Jimmy
| Name |
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| born on | 7 August 1966 at 23:20 (= 11:20 PM ) | ||||
| Place | Huntsville, Alabama, 34n44, 86w35 | ||||
| Timezone | CST h6w (is standard time) | ||||
| Data source |
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| Astrology data |   15°13'   00°21 Asc. 26°02'
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photo: Thomas Entzeroth (photographer) on behalf of Gottlieb Duttwe, license cc-by-sa-3.0
Biography
American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance. While in graduate school, he taught at two universities, but left before completing a PhD in order to take a job in finance and later worked as the research director of a Chicago futures and options firm. In 1996, he and two partners founded Bomis, a male-oriented web portal featuring entertainment and adult content. The company would provide the initial funding for the peer-reviewed free encyclopedia Nupedia (2000–2003) and its successor, Wikipedia.
On January 15, 2001, with Larry Sanger and others, Wales launched Wikipedia, a free, open content encyclopedia that enjoyed rapid growth and popularity, and as Wikipedia’s public profile grew, he became the project’s promoter and spokesman. He is historically cited as a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed the "co-" designation, declaring himself the sole founder. Wales serves on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit charitable organization he helped establish to operate Wikipedia, holding its board-appointed "community founder" seat. In 2004, he co-founded Wikia, a for-profit wiki-hosting service. His role in creating Wikipedia, which has become the world’s largest encyclopedia, prompted Time magazine to name him in its 2006 list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World".
Events
Source Notes
Mary English pointed to his wikipedia page, where Wales wrote:
I was born on August 7th, 1966, at around 11:30PM… according to my mother, who should know. But somehow, when the doctor prepared my birth certificate, he put August 8th, 1966. Even though my parents signed it, they didn’t notice it. We only found out when I was 15 and went on my birthday (the 7th!) to get my driving permit. You can imagine my disappointment when I was sent home.
Today all my legal documents say August 8th. I confess to having a funny sense of humor, and so over the years I’ve had a bit of fun with this. If someone asks if my birthday is on the 7th, I say “That’s not what my passport says.” If someone asks if my birthday is on the 8th, I say “Not according to my mother, and she should know.”
Unfortunately, not everyone in the world has a sense of humor. :-)
On 24 May 2015, Pam Crane sent an email saying: "UK's radio programme Desert Island Discs' has confirmed his birth data! Jimmy Wales was on today, and was asked if he was born on August 7th or 8th 1966. He explained that it was indeed August 7th, despite the 8th being on his birth certificate! ... and that his mother said he was born "about 11h20 at night". Podcast of the programme from this page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/did ."
Categories
- Vocation : Business : Entrepreneur
- Notable : Famous : Top 5% of Profession
