As a teenager, Richard Garriott spent hours huddled in his bedroom closet writing computer games.

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After his return, he got a business degree from the University of Baltimore, and in 1984 started a software company in his basement, writing the computer programs himself.

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Dr Bilham and Vinod Gaur, from the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation in Bangalore, writing late last year in Current Science, said that until recently Indian seismological research has neglected a technique known as geodesy, which measures the strains accumulating in, and distorting the surfaces of, plates.

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Wheeler, who has a degree in computer science from the University of Kansas, spent long nights in Huff's garage, writing a program that could search multiple police databases to find evidence of crimes committed by the same person.

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So he ended up in New York, working for a struggling computer consulting firm, writing computer simulation models for DuPont.

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After writing his first computer program at age 13, Gates hasn't wavered in his mission to develop cutting-edge software with the potential to change the world.

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But he's learning that he can no longer play the same role that he did in the early days, when he spent most of his time writing computer code.

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