Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
scienceFeb 17, 202526:29pending

The Life Scientific: Bill Gates

Discovery

About this episode

Bill Gates is one of the world's best-known billionaires - but after years at the corporate coalface building a software empire and a vast fortune, his priority now is giving that wealth away. And his ethos for doing it has been shaped by science.

Famed for co-founding Microsoft, in recent decades Bill’s attention has turned to philanthropy via The Gates Foundation: one of the largest charities in the world. Since its inception in 2000, the organisation has helped tackle issues around health, education, inequality and climate change in some of the world’s poorest countries, with an undeniable impact, from contributing to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa, to helping halve global child mortality rates within 25 years.

But, as Jim al-Khalili discovers, for a man with lofty ambitions and an even loftier bank balance Bill has surprisingly humble tastes.

Get every episode summarized

Each time Discovery publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

Hosts & guests

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

The Life Scientific: Bill Gates

Discovery

0:00
26:29

More episodes

More from Discovery

View all episodes →