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Charles Simonyi

File:Charles_simonyi.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Charles Simonyi

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Hungarian-American computer software executive (born 1948)

Person · Open Library

Works
0

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting

Known for

  • Space Tourists2009

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
4
Total plays
6

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Charles+Simonyi">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Charles Simonyi

Academic profile · OpenAlex

7h-index
Works
10
Cited by
382

Research areas

Computer scienceProgramming languageSoftware engineeringSoftwareArtificial intelligence

Most cited works

via OpenAlex · CC0

Key facts

Born
( 1948-09-10 ) September 10, 1948 (age 77) , Budapest , Hungary
Citizenship
Hungary, United States
Alma mater
University of California, Berkeley ( BS ), Stanford University ( PhD )
Occupation
Software architect
Known for
Hungarian notation , space tourism , intentional programming
Notable work
Microsoft Office
Spouse
Lisa Persdotter ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 2008 ) ​
Parents
Károly Simonyi (father) Zsuzsa Simonyi (mother)
Relatives
Sándor Simonyi-Semadam (great-grandfather)
Time in space
26d 14h 27m
Missions
Soyuz TMA-10 / TMA-9 , Soyuz TMA-14 / TMA-13

via Wikipedia infobox

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Charles Simonyi (/sɪˈmoʊni/; Hungarian: Simonyi Károly, pronounced [ˈʃimoɲi ˈkaːroj]; born September 10, 1948) is a Hungarian-American software architect, businessman, and space tourist. He led the development of Microsoft's first application software, including early versions of Microsoft Office, and later co-founded Intentional Software, a company focused on his concept of intentional programming. A former researcher at Xerox PARC, he helped pioneer graphical user interfaces and introduced object-oriented programming and Hungarian notation to Microsoft. Simonyi flew to space twice as a private citizen, becoming the fifth space tourist and the only one to pay for two separate trips to the International Space Station. As of January 2025, his net worth was estimated at US$7.5 billion.

Biography

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Charles Simonyi” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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