MIT World Speakers

Jimmy Wales

Wales received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University and his masters from the University of Alabama. Wales went on to become a futures and options trader in Chicago, and within a few years had earned enough to "support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives." In 1996, Wales founded a search portal called Bomis and in 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, Nupedia.com ("the free encyclopedia"). Wikipedia emerged in 2001.