Jimmy Wales

:"James Wales" redirects here. For the British film director, see James Whale.

Early life

Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama. His father was a grocery store manager while Wales was growing up (his father has since retired). Wales's mother Doris and grandmother Irma ran a small private school, "in the tradition of the one-room schoolhouse," where he also went to school. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grade and fifth through eighth grade. A Time magazine interview incorrectly reported that Wales was home schooled. Strictly speaking Wales was not, but he did note that his schooling experience was "in a sense similar" since his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. Students had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever they liked; the school's philosophy of education was significantly influenced by Montessori. Wales spent many hours poring over the World Book Encyclopedia during this time. After eighth grade, Wales went to Randolph School, a college prep school, which was and is an early adopter of student computer labs and other technology for direct student use. This prep school was expensive for the family, since they had few means, but Wales reports that his family believed education was very important: " was always a passion in my household ... you know, the very traditional approach to knowledge and learning and establishing that as a base for a good life."

Related Topics:
Huntsville - Alabama - Grocery store - Time - Home schooled - Montessori - World Book Encyclopedia - Randolph School - College prep school

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He first attended Auburn University and later, the University of Alabama for his undergraduate studies. Later, he took courses offered in the Ph.D. finance programs at the University of Alabama and Indiana University. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the doctoral dissertation required to earn a postgraduate degree at these institutions. 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." (March 2005, Wired article)

Related Topics:
Auburn University - University of Alabama - Finance - Indiana University - Doctoral dissertation - Futures - Options - Chicago

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In the mid-1990s, Wales founded a search portal called Bomis which sells original content, including a "Bomis Babes" erotica section. Wales is no longer president or CEO of Bomis, and now devotes most of his time to his wiki projects.

Related Topics:
1990s - Bomis - Erotica

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In March 2000, he founded a peer-reviewed open-content encyclopedia Nupedia.com ("the free encyclopedia"), and hired Larry Sanger to be its editor-in-chief.

Related Topics:
2000 - ''Nupedia.com'' - Larry Sanger

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