Figure timeline
Jimmy Donal Wales is an American and British internet entrepreneur and former financial trader. He is best known for co-founding Wikipedia, a nonprofit free encyclopedia, and Fandom, a for-profit wiki hosting service. He has also worked on Bomis, Nupedia, WikiTribune, and Trust Café.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
business · Co-founder of Wikipedia (born 1966) · businessperson · entrepreneur · Wikimedian · computer scientist · researcher · orator · merchant · also Jimmy Wales, Wales
Born 7 August 1966 · Q181
84 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
13 photos · 1 audio · 1 video
Video
What is your favorite Wikipedia article?
Listen
Jimmy Wales voice
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
This will be the first time that professional journalists and citizen journalists will work side-by-side as equals writing stories as they happen, editing them live as they develop, and at all times backed by a community checking and rechecking all facts.
91%
“If you take as an example the bitcoin community, they’re a very active and obsessed community. “There’s a lot of news that comes out in the field, and I think they’d love to be able to raise money to hire a journalist and put them on the bitcoin/blockchain beat.”
“This will be the first time that professional journalists and citizen journalists will work side-by-side as equals writing stories as they happen, editing them live as they develop, and at all times backed by a community checking and rechecking all facts.”
“would have never approved [the] sweeping surveillance program [publicized by Snowden]”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“It is very difficult for me to buy into the notion that gamergate is”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales's book The Seven Rules of Trust was published in October 2025 by Penguin Random House.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Protecting strong encryption is essential for protecting the human rights of millions of people around the world.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
On The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, he revealed that he secretly lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for one month after reading Ferriss's book The 4-Hour Workweek
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I view my role as being very much like the modern monarch of the UK: no real power, but the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales said that "I view my role as being very much like the modern monarch of the UK: no real power, but the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The pro-Palestinian publication Mondoweiss ran an article by Philip Weiss describing Wales as appearing to side with Israel due to a social media post condemning British politician Jeremy Corbyn for being silent about Ha
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won President's Medal (2017).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“that slow step-by-step change is better and more sustainable and allows us to test new things with a minimum of difficult disruption in society.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales announced that he was launching an online publication called WikiTribune, to fight fake news through a combination of professional journalists and volunteer contributors
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career landmark: non-executive director (2016–2017).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales and eleven other business leaders signed an open letter to American voters urging them not to vote for Donald Trump in that year's presidential election
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recalled that he wrote the first words on Wikipedia: "Hello world", a phrase computer programmers often use to test new software
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Dan David Prize (2015).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales offered to help Ed Miliband with the Labour Party's social media strategy, but Miliband declined the offer
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales signed up as the committee chair for Democrat Lawrence Lessig's 2016 presidential campaign
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And "The remit of the committee is to hold public hearings and issue recommendations—not just to Google but to legislators and the public
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Google appointed Wales to serve on a seven-member committee on privacy in response to Google v
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales strongly reacted to the European Court of Justice (ECJ)'s ruling on the right of individuals to request the removal of information from Google's search results
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales spoke on a panel at a Clinton Global Initiative University conference held at Arizona State University, along with John McCain, Saudi Arabian women's rights activist Manal al-Sharif and Harvard University student S
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
In response to an email from a computer science student claiming that Wikipedia has a "complete lack of any sort of attempt at neutrality regarding Gamergate", Wales allegedly wrote: "It is very difficult for me to buy i
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Published “Defining consensus: A systematic review recommends methodologic criteria for reporting of Delphi studies” in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology — cited 3,148 times.
Published “Defining consensus: A systematic review recommends methodologic criteria for reporting of Delphi studies” in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology — cited 3,146 times.
Wales elaborated on his role on Wikipedia
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Published “Defining consensus: A systematic review recommends methodologic criteria for reporting of Delphi studies” in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology — cited 3,161 times.
Published “Defining consensus: A systematic review recommends methodologic criteria for reporting of Delphi studies” in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology — cited 3,136 times.
Published “Defining consensus: A systematic review recommends methodologic criteria for reporting of Delphi studies” in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology — cited 3,163 times.
Awarded Internet Hall of Fame (2013).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won UNESCO Niels Bohr Medal (2013).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won: 2013 with 2013 UNESCO Niels Bohr Medal (2013).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales told The New York Times that the dispute is "the dumbest controversy in the history of the world"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales married Kate Garvey at Wesley's Chapel in London on October 6, 2012.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Home Secretary of the UK was petitioned by Wales regarding his opposition to the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer to the US
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales has lived in London since 2012, and became a British citizen in 2019.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales delivered an hour-long address at The Sage Gateshead in the United Kingdom to launch the 2011 Free Thinking Festival on BBC Radio Three
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Leonardo Award (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Gottlieb Duttweiler Prize (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales criticized whistle-blower website WikiLeaks and its editor-in-chief Julian Assange, saying that their publication of Afghan war documents "could be enough to get someone killed"; furthermore, he expressed irritatio
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“s policy of freedom of information. In 2010, Wales criticized whistle-blower website WikiLeaks and its editor-in-chief Julian Assange, saying that their publication of Afghan war documents”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Nokia Foundation Recognition Award (2009).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“the dumbest controversy in the history of the world”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Quadriga (2008).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
That began after Marsden contacted Wales about her Wikipedia biography
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
That "Dialing down is not an option for me
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
He had a brief relationship with Canadian conservative columnist Rachel Marsden in 2008 that began after Marsden contacted Wales about her Wikipedia biography.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales testified before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Young Global Leaders (2007).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded EFF Award (2006).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing.”
“Si se aprueba, esta ley dañará la Internet libre y abierta y traerá nuevas herramientas para la censura de portales internacionales en Estados Unidos [...] Será la primera vez que la Wikipedia en inglés lidera una protesta de esta envergadura y se trata de una decisión que no hemos tomado a la ligera.”
“Quiero dar una enciclopedia gratis y libre a cada persona del planeta.”
“Traducción: «Hacer algo como esto es por supuesto un asunto muy, muy importante sin precedentes en la Wikipedia en inglés.”
“Hacemos que Internet no apeste.”
“Traducción: «Unas pocas cosas son absolutas e innegociables, sin embargo. El PVN por ejemplo.”
“I have no plans at all to be running an asylum. This is a serious encyclopedia project. We *do* have to make our changes conservatively and slowly, so as to make sure that we preserve our open spirit to the maximal degree possible. But some people are just not suitable for editing here, and that's just a simple brute fact.”
“Wiki editing thrives on local knowledge, but 'local' in an epistemological sense, not necessarily in a geographical sense. For example, I personally know a lot more about world news on topics that interest me and could synthesize much better in those areas, than I know about local politicians where I live”
“We are growing from a cheerful small town where everyone waves off their front porch to the subway of New York City where everyone rushes by. How do you preserve the culture that has worked so well?”
“When someone just writes 'f**k, f**k, f**k', we just fix it, laugh and move on. But the difficult social issues are the borderline cases — people who do some good work, but who are also a pain in the neck.”
“[Wikipedia es] como una salchicha: puede gustarte el sabor, pero no necesariamente quieres ver cómo la hacen.”
“I frequently counsel people who are getting frustrated about an edit war to think about someone who lives without clean drinking water, without any proper means of education, and how our work might someday help that person. It puts flamewars into some perspective, I think.”
With Brian Lamb, Wales described his childhood private school as a "Montessori-influenced philosophy of education", where he "spent lots of hours poring over the Britannica and World Book Encyclopedias"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales and then-fellow member of the WMF Board of Trustees Angela Beesley founded the for-profit company Wikia
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career landmark: Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees (2003–2006).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“All plans to put advertising of any kind on the wikipedia is called off for now. We will move forward with plans for a nonprofit foundation ...”
With Larry Sanger and others, he launched Wikipedia, which grew rapidly
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“s designation as a co-founder. Sanger and Wales were identified as co-founders as early as September 2001 by The New York Times, and both were described as founders in Wikipedia”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And after becoming disillusioned with the housing market there, moved in 2002 to St
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales moved to San Diego in 1998, and after becoming disillusioned with the housing market there, moved in 2002 to St.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Published “Global Optimization by Basin-Hopping and the Lowest Energy Structures of Lennard-Jones Clusters Containing up to 110 Atoms” in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A — cited 2,936 times.
Published “Global Optimization by Basin-Hopping and the Lowest Energy Structures of Lennard-Jones Clusters Containing up to 110 Atoms” in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A — cited 2,944 times.
Published “Global Optimization by Basin-Hopping and the Lowest Energy Structures of Lennard-Jones Clusters Containing up to 110 Atoms” in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A — cited 2,940 times.
They were married in Monroe County, Florida, in March 1997, and had a daughter before separating in 2008.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And two partners founded Bomis, a web portal featuring user-generated webrings and, for a time, softcore pornography
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales co-founded Bomis, which funded the free peer-reviewed encyclopedia Nupedia (2000–2003)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And having accumulated capital through "speculating on interest-rate and foreign-currency fluctuations", Wales decided to leave the realm of financial trading and became an Internet entrepreneur
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wales took a job with Chicago Options Associates, a futures and options trading firm in Chicago, Illinois
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Founded an electronic mailing list devoted to "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Studied at University of Alabama (1986).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Studied at Auburn University (1983–1986).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Studied at Randolph School (1979–1983).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1966-08-07.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
I have no plans at all to be running an asylum. This is a serious encyclopedia project. We *do* have to make our changes conservatively and slowly, so as to make sure that we preserve our open spirit to the maximal degree possible. But some people are just not suitable for editing here, and that's just a simple brute fact.
Connections