Bill Gates

Skinny, shy and awkward, teenaged William H. (Bill) Gates seemed an unlikely successor to his overachieving parents. His father, William H. Gates II, powerfully built and 6'6'' tall, was a prominent Seattle attorney, and his outgoing mother was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International. While he showed enormous talent for math and logic, young Bill, a middle child, was no one's idea of a natural leader, let alone …

…public interest in the Internet. Beginning in 1995 and 1996, Gates feverishly refocused Microsoft on the development of consumer and enterprise software solutions for the Internet, developed the Windows CE operating system platform for networking non-computer devices such as home televisions and personal digital assistants, created the Microsoft Network to compete with America Online and other Internet providers, and, through Gates' company Corbis, acquired the huge Bettmann photo archives and other collections for use in electronic distribution.