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October 4, 2006 Software Pioneer Charles Simonyi Honored at the
Residence
Ambassador
of Hungary András Simonyi presented Mr. Charles Simonyi with the
Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary at the
Ambassador’s Residence on October 4. The computer developer was awarded
this medal by President of the Republic László Sólyom in March 2006 for
for his outstanding and internationally renowned achievements in the field
of software development and his contribution to Hungarian American
technological relations and to promoting Hungary’s image in the world. Ambassador András Simonyi and Charles Simonyi The
reception was attended by US Chief of Protocol Donald Ensenat, Hungarian
astronaut Bertalan Farkas, former Commander of the International Space
Station Leroy Chiao, corporate executives, representatives of the US and
Hungarian media, and leaders of Hungarian American organizations. Charles
Simonyi is a highly regarded software pioneer and generous philanthropist
supporting many educational and scientific endeavors. Former
Commander of the International Space Station Leroy Chiao with the
honoree and the host Simonyi
was born in Budapest,
Hungary
in 1948.
He left his native country in the mid-1960s for Denmark. He earned his BS in Engineering
Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley,
and continued to Stanford University for graduate studies. As
head of Microsoft's
application software group, he oversaw the development of what became its
most profitable products, Word and Excel.
He left Microsoft in 2002
to co-found a company called Intentional Software.
Simonyi has been an active philanthropist, establishing the Charles Simonyi
Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford
University and the $50 million Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and
Sciences, through which he supports culture in the Seattle area. Charles Simonyi, András Simonyi and journalist Gail
Scott at the reception In
early 2006 Simonyi expressed interest in becoming a space
tourist and signed agreements with the world's leading space
tourism company, Space
Adventures, Ltd., for a 10-day mission to the International Space
Station. He started training at Star City in September 2006. |
