Bill Gates has revealed that his father has Alzheimer’s and that he fears he too will get the disease.

Mr Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, revealed that his 92-year-old father was "deeply affected" by the degenerative condition as he pledge a new fund to find a cure for the disease.

Mr Gates, 62, said he was donating $100 million to Alzheimer's research after his father’s diagnosis had led him to worry about his own brain staying "intact as long as possible".

"More and more people are getting Alzheimer's, and it's a tragic disease," Mr Gates told US network NBC.

"I really believe that if we orchestrate the right resources, it's solvable."

Mr Gates added that he feared suffering from the disease himself, saying: "I want my brain to stay intact as long as possible.

"My job in terms of intellectual stimulation, learning new areas, meeting super smart people, is almost ideal from an exercising the brain point of view."

The condition, a degenerative disorders that trigger a gradual loss of brain function, affects around 850,000 people in the UK. 

Dementia, which includes Alzheimer’s, is the biggest cause of death in Britain.

Mr Gates made the comments to NBC presenter Maria Shriver, the former wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose own father Sargent Shriver died from Alzheimer’s.
 
Mr Gates told her: "You had a father, I have a father who is deeply affected by it.

"Only by solving problems like this can we take these medical costs and the human tragedy and get them under control.

"One of the things we're trying to figure out is, when does the Alzheimer's really get started? When would you need to treat somebody to completely avoid them getting Alzheimer's?"

As a young man Mr Gates had a tempestuous relationship with his father, Bill Gates Sr, but later came to see him as a role model whose advice he relied upon.