Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales given Swiss award for ‘democratizing the access to knowledge’

Swiss award for Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

GENEVA — A Swiss organization has awarded Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales 100,000 Swiss francs ($104,000) for “democratizing the access to knowledge.”

The Im Grueene Foundation said Friday the free online encyclopedia “revolutionized the access to knowledge as man’s most important resource” because it allows users to also be contributors.

The Gottlieb Duttweiler Award — named after a Swiss businessman — is awarded irregularly and last went to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2008.

Wikipedia is one of the most popular websites in the world. Wales has said the site has more than 3 million entries in English, far more than a traditional encyclopedia, and is rapidly expanding into other languages, with almost a million entries in French and more in German.