Jimmy Wales
The National Institute of Social Sciences is delighted to announce Jimmy Wales, founder of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, as one of the 2026 Honorees for its Gold Honor Medal for distinguished service to society and humanity.
The National Institute will celebrate Mr. Wales and our other Honorees at the 112th Annual Gold Medal Gala, which will be held in person in New York City on Tuesday, December 8, 2026. We hope you will be able to join us to honor Mr. Wales and our other extraordinary Honorees and their accomplishments.
Jimmy Wales is an American-British Internet entrepreneur best known for founding the free nonprofit online encyclopedia Wikipedia, as well as other wiki-related organizations.
After an early career in finance and for-profit internet entrepreneurship, Mr. Wales launched Wikipedia.org in 2001 as an open-source, collaborative encyclopedia that would accept contributions from ordinary people. The concept resulted in a robust, self-regulating community that has proven highly successful, with over 67 million articles written in 347 languages currently online. Today Wikipedia and its sister projects are among the top five most-visited sites on the internet. In mid-2003, Mr. Wales founded the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization designed to support Wikipedia.org, and transferred all of Wikipedia’s intellectual property rights and domain names to the new foundation. The Foundation focuses on fundraising, technology, and programming relating to the expansion of Wikipedia, and Mr. Wales sits on the board of trustees as founder and Chairman Emeritus and acts as a key spokesperson.
In 2004, he co-founded Fandom (then called Wikia), which enables groups of people to share information and opinions that fall outside the scope of an encyclopedia. Wikia’s community-created wikis range from video games and movies to finance and environmental issues. His debut book The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last was published in October 2025.
Mr. Wales received a Bachelor of Finance degree from Auburn University and a Master of Finance degree from the University of Alabama. He was appointed a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School in 2005, and in 2006 he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization Creative Commons.
Previous Gold Medal Honorees, 1913-2025
About the National Institute of Social Sciences
Established in 1912, the National Institute of Social Sciences is a voluntary association of public-spirited citizens who explore issues of urgent and lasting concern. One of the nation’s oldest honorary societies, the National Institute sponsors speeches, discussions, and events that encourage balanced, non-partisan debate and discussion; celebrates distinguished Americans and world leaders who have contributed at the highest level to the welfare and improvement of society; and provides financial support to emerging scholars who are conducting research in the social sciences.