Charles Simonyi

Charles Simonyi
Born	(1948-09-10) September 10, 1948 (age 68) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley (B.S.) Stanford University (Ph.D.)
Occupation	Software architect
Known for	Hungarian notation, space tourism, style sheet (desktop publishing)
Notable work	Microsoft Office
Net worth	USD$1.4 Billion
Spouse(s)	Lisa Persdotter (m. 2008)
Children	2
Space Adventures Tourist
Time in space	26d 14h 27m
Missions	Soyuz TMA-10 / TMA-9, Soyuz TMA-14 / TMA-13
Mission insignia

Charles Simonyi (Hungarian: Simonyi Károly, pronounced [ˈʃimoɲi ˈkaːroj]; born September 10, 1948), son of Károly Simonyi, is a Hungarian-born American computer programmer, businessman, and space tourist. He was head of Microsoft's application software group, where he oversaw the creation of Microsoft's flagship Office suite of applications. He now heads his own company, Intentional Software, with the aim of developing and marketing his concept of intentional programming. In April 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-10, he became the fifth space tourist and the second Hungarian in space. In March 2009, aboard Soyuz TMA-14, he made a second trip to the International Space Station. His estimated net worth is US$1.4 billion.

Simonyi was born in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Károly Simonyi, a professor of electrical engineering at the Technical University of Budapest. While in secondary school he worked part-time as a night watchman at a computer laboratory in early 1960's, overseeing a large Soviet Ural IImainframe. He took an interest in computing and learned to program from one of the laboratory's engineers. By the time he left school, he had learned to develop compilers and sold one of these to a government department. He presented a demonstration of his compiler to the members of a Danish computer trade delegation. In 2006 he said when he was young his dream was, “to get out of Hungary, go to the West and be free.”