Paul Allen

).

=Early years=

Paul Allen was born in Seattle, Washington, Washington to Kenneth S. Allen, an associate director of the University of Washington libraries and Faye G. Allen. Allen attended Lakeside School, a prestigious private school in Seattle and befriended Bill Gates, two years his junior but shared a common enthusiasm for computers. Together they monopolized the use of Lakeside school s single minicomputer but in need of more computing power, Allen and Gates snuck into the University of Washington computer labs. They were caught but struck an agreement with lab administrators by providing free computer help to students. After graduation, Allen attended Washington State University, though he dropped out after two years to pursue his dream of writing software commercially for the new personal computers . He later convinced Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard College to found Microsoft.

=Microsoft=

: For more information, see Microsoft#Early_history

With Bill Gates, he co-founded Microsoft (initially Micro-Soft ) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975, and began selling a BASIC programming language interpreter (computing). Allen spearheaded a deal for Microsoft to buy an operating system called QDOS for $50,000. Microsoft won a contract to supply it for use as the operating system of IBM s new IBM_PC. This became a foundation of Microsoft s remarkable growth.

Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin s disease which was successfully treated by several months of radiation therapy and a bone marrow transplant.

In November 2000, Allen resigned from his position on the Microsoft board but was asked to consult as a senior strategy advisor to Microsoft executives.

=Philanthropy=

Much of Paul Allen s philanthropy has been dedicated to the advancement of science and technology. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation was established in 1986 to administer much of the giving. Allen s most famous philanthropic projects are the Experience Music Project, the Allen Brain Atlas, and SETI. Paul Allen s total philanthropy as of 2005 is estimated to be over US$800 million dollars.

The .

= Sports involvement =

In 1988, Paul Allen purchased the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team, and was instrumental in the development and funding of their Rose Garden Arena in 1993. In 1997, he purchased the Seattle Seahawks NFL team. He also played a large part in the development of Qwest Field. Through his Vulcan Inc. Paul Allen also owns The Sporting News magazine.

=Property=

Paul Allen owns cable giant Charter Communications and has a holding in the Oxygen Network channel.

= Yacht =

Paul Allen also owns the world s third largest private yacht, the Yacht_Octopus. Costing US $200 million to build, it is 416 feet (126.8 metres) long and has a permanent crew of 60, which includes several former Navy Seals. Octopus also has two helipads, seven smaller boats within and a 10 man submarine which is capable of staying two weeks underwater with a full crew.

His other yacht, the Tatoosh, was the second-largest in the United States when purchased in 2000. The 300-foot Tatoosh carries a 30-person crew, two helicopters, a swimming pool, a spa, a private movie theater, six other surface boats (including a separate 54-foot racing yacht and two Hobie catamarans) and (only one) submarine.

Paul Allen apparently also has a third yacht slightly smaller than Tatoosh, as well as two Boeing 757s.

= SpaceShipOne =

In 2004, Paul Allen confirmed that he was the angel investor behind Burt Rutan s Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne suborbital commercial spacecraft.

=External links=

*[http://www.paulallen.com/ Paul Allen official home page] *[http://www.vulcan.com/ Vulcan Inc.] *[http://www.projecthalo.com/ Project Halo] *[http://www.cinerama.com/ Cinerama] *[http://www.europaluxury.com/Section/Boats/LUERSSEN.html Octopus shipyard]

== Articles ==

*[http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2004/LIR.jhtmlpassListId=54&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=1217&datatype=Person Forbes 400 listing] *[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/Sept00/AllenHackbornPR.asp Paul Allen as senior adviser to Microsoft] *[http://www.computer-schools.us/Paul-Allen.htm Paul Allen and Bill Gates]

== Museums ==

*[http://www.emplive.org/ Experience Music Project] *[http://www.flyingheritage.com/ Flying Heritage Collection] *[http://www.museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh Microcomputer Gallery] *[http://www.sfhomeworld.org/ Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame]

=== Philanthropy === *[http://www.pgafamilyfoundation.org/ Paul G. Allen Family Foundation] *[http://www.brainatlas.org/ Allen Brain Atlas] A project of the Allen Institute for Brain Science