Bill Gates' Harvard Professor Thought, 'What A Waste' When He Left Academia, But That 'Small Company' He Founded Changed The World

Before he became one of the wealthiest people on the planet with Microsoft Inc. MSFT, Bill Gates was just another Harvard undergrad, albeit one whose intelligence made a long-lasting impression on his professors.

One of them, Christos Papadimitriou, recalled thinking Gates was the smartest person he had ever encountered. But when Gates ditched academia to pursue business, Papadimitriou had just one reaction: ‘what a waste’.

What Happened: In the 1970s, Gates co-authored a paper on a mathematical problem called "pancake sorting" with Papadimitriou.

His unique solution slashed the number of necessary operations drastically and held the world record for decades.

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But just two years later, when Papadimitriou called Gates to share the news that their paper had been accepted for publication in a prestigious journal, Gates had already changed course, relocating to New Mexico to concentrate on his software company.

Speaking about the episode at the ACM Awards several years later, Papadimitriou said:

"Two years later, I called to tell him our paper had been accepted to a fine math journal. He sounded eminently disinterested. He had moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to run a small company writing code for microprocessors, of all things. I remember thinking: “Such a brilliant kid. What a waste.”

Why It Matters: Gates' early departure from Harvard to build Microsoft appeared like a diversion from academic glory. But it instead signalled the start of of one of the most dynamic and influential careers in the tech world.

While Papadimitriou saw Gates' re-orientation as a loss in the early days, history proved otherwise.

Bill Gates may have walked away from math journals and complex theories, but not from problem-solving. His story demonstrates how intellectual ability can take many shapes and forms, and how a "waste" in one domain can transform into world-changing success in another.

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