Colorado Technical University

He was born in 1957 in Nigeria His school experience was much

Summary: He was born in 1957 in Nigeria His school experience was much the same as with many other native African children He even had to drop out of school at the age of 14 because his father could not pay his school fees During his few early years in school Philip showed a proficiency in mathematics His father encouraged him to continue his education and even tried to tutor him until Philip knew more than he did After dropping out of high school Philip immersed himself in the public library reading and studying such subjects as college level mathematics physics chemistry and English When he was 17 he received a scholarship to Oregon State University He arrived at the University in 1974 and has since earned four other degrees a Ph D in Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan along with two Masters Degrees from the George Washington University With the title Bill Gates of Africa it is easy to see how much of an impact his intellect has had on the computing industry In 1989 the computer system he built became the first system to perform 3 1 billion calculations per second This record even surpassed the expensive super computers in the U S He used his computer to help scientists understand how oil flowed underground His invention garnered him the prestigious 1989 Gordon Bell Prize This is considered to be the Nobel Prize of computing He has been extolled by Bill Clinton as one of the great minds of the Information Age described by CNN as A Father of the Internet and is the world s most searched for scientist on the Internet Dr Emeagwali seems to be setting another challenge to his ever expanding list of achievements He says The greatest grand challenge for any scientist is discovering how to prevent the spread of HIV and finding the cure or an effective vaccine for AIDS

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