Linus Benedict Torvalds was born on December 28, 1969. He is a software engineer from Finland and the United States. Since 1991, he has been the creator and main developer of the Linux kernel. He also created Git, a tool that helps people work together on computer projects.

In 2012, Torvalds received the Millennium Technology Prize for creating a new open source operating system that led to the widely used Linux kernel. He also won the IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award in 2014 and the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award in 2018.

Life and career

Linus Torvalds was born on December 28, 1969, in Helsinki, Finland. He is the son of journalists Anna and Nils Torvalds, the grandson of statistician Leo Törnqvist and poet Ole Torvalds, and the great-grandson of journalist and soldier Toivo Karanko. His parents were activists at the University of Helsinki in the 1960s. His family is part of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. He was named after Linus Pauling, a Nobel Prize-winning American chemist. However, he once said in a book that he was also named after Linus, the Peanuts cartoon character, joking that this made him "half Nobel Prize–winning chemist and half blanket-carrying cartoon character."

His interest in computers began when he received a VIC-20 at age 11 in 1981. He wrote programs using a language called BASIC, then later worked directly with the 6502 CPU using machine code. He later bought a Sinclair QL computer and made many changes to its operating system. Because it was hard to find software for the QL in Finland, he created his own assembler and wrote Pac-Man graphics libraries and some games, including a version called Cool Man.

Torvalds studied computer science at the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, earning a master's degree from the NODES research group. His studies were paused for a year when he joined the Finnish Navy Nyland Brigade in 1989 to complete his required military service. He trained for 11 months and became a second lieutenant, working as an artillery observer.

In 1990, he returned to university and first used a type of computer called Unix through a DEC MicroVAX running ULTRIX. Later, he read a book by professor Andrew Tanenbaum about MINIX, a simplified version of Unix used for learning.

On January 5, 1991, Torvalds bought a computer based on the Intel 80386 chip before receiving a copy of MINIX. This helped him begin working on Linux.

The first versions of Linux were shared online in late 1991 from a server at his university. Version 1.0 was released on March 14, 1994.

In the fall of 1991, Torvalds learned about the GNU Project when a classmate took him to hear Richard Stallman, an expert in free software, speak. After discussions with others, Torvalds changed the license for his Linux kernel to the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2).

After visiting Transmeta in late 1996, Torvalds worked for the company in California from 1997 to 2003. He later joined the Open Source Development Labs, which later became the Linux Foundation. In 2004, he and his family moved to Oregon to be closer to the foundation's headquarters.

From 1997 to 1999, he helped choose the standard format for Linux and Unix software. In 1999, he was named one of the top 100 innovators under 35 by the MIT Technology Review. That same year, companies like Red Hat and VA Linux gave him stock options as a thank you for creating Linux. When these companies went public, his shares were worth about $20 million.

Torvalds' personal mascot is a penguin named Tux, which became the symbol for the Linux kernel.

Although Torvalds believes "open source is the only right way to do software," he also says he uses the best tools for the job, even if they are not free. He faced criticism for using a proprietary software called BitKeeper for Linux development. He later created a free software replacement called Git.

In 2000, Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, asked Torvalds to work on macOS, but he refused, saying the Mach kernel was too different from Linux.

In 2008, Torvalds used the Fedora Linux distribution because it supported a processor called PowerPC. He later switched to a different software called Xfce after problems with GNOME, but returned to GNOME in 2013.

The Linux Foundation supports Torvalds so he can work full-time on improving Linux.

In 2012, during a talk at Aalto University, Torvalds said "fuck you" and raised his middle finger after criticizing Nvidia, a company that makes GPU technology. He called Nvidia the worst company he had worked with. He also discussed other computing topics during the talk.

Torvalds is known for being direct in his opinions on the Linux kernel mailing list. He once said he is "a really unpleasant person" and admitted he uses strong language when making points. His style has drawn criticism from some developers.

In September 2018, the Linux kernel's Code of Conflict

Authority and trademark

In 2006, about 2% of the Linux kernel was written by Linus Torvalds. Even though many people have contributed to the kernel, his share remains one of the largest. In 2012, he explained that his current role focuses mostly on combining code written by others, with less direct programming. He still has the final say over which new code is added to the standard Linux kernel.

Torvalds owns the Linux trademark and oversees its use, mainly through the Linux Mark Institute.

Other software

On April 3, 2005, Linus Torvalds started creating Git, a program that helps track changes in computer code. This software became widely used over time.

Subsurface is a program that helps divers keep records and plan underwater trips. Torvalds began working on it in late 2011. The software is free to use and can be changed by anyone, as it follows the rules of the GNU General Public License version 2. In late 2012, Dirk Hohndel became the main person responsible for managing and improving the program.

Sparse is a tool that checks computer code for problems that might interest developers who work on operating system kernels. It looks for issues like when code combines parts that handle user data with parts that handle system data.

Personal life

Linus Torvalds is married to Tove Torvalds (born Monni), a six-time Finnish national karate champion. They met in late 1993 when Linus was helping students with computer laboratory exercises. He asked students to send him an email as a test, and Tove responded with an email asking for a date. They later married and have three daughters, two of whom were born in the United States. The Linux kernel's reboot system call includes their dates of birth (written in hexadecimal) as special values.

Linus has described himself as "completely a-religious — atheist." He explained that he believes religion does not help people understand morals or appreciate nature. He said religion often leads people to think nature was created by someone, making its existence seem miraculous. Instead, he finds it amazing that nature exists at all. He noted that in Europe, religion is mostly a personal matter, but in the United States, it has become more political. When discussing the separation of church and state, he said, "It is ironic that in many European countries, there is a legal connection between the government and the state religion." In "Linus the Liberator," a story about the March LinuxWorld Conference, he said, "There are two golden rules in life. One is 'Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.' Some people link this to Christianity, but I am not a Christian. I am agnostic. The other rule is 'Be proud of what you do.'"

In 2004, Torvalds moved with his family from Silicon Valley to Portland, Oregon. In 2010, he became a United States citizen and registered to vote in the United States. At that time, he was not affiliated with any U.S. political party, stating, "I have too much personal pride to want to be associated with any of them."

Linus developed an interest in scuba diving in the early 2000s and earned many certifications. This led him to create the Subsurface project.

Media recognition

Time magazine has honored Linus Torvalds on multiple occasions:

• In 2000, he was ranked 17th in Time magazine's list of the most important people of the century.
• In 2004, he was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
• In 2006, the Europe edition of Time magazine listed him as one of the revolutionary heroes of the past 60 years.

In 2000, InfoWorld gave him the Award for Industry Achievement. In 2005, BusinessWeek included him in a list of "the best managers." In 2006, Business 2.0 magazine placed him on a list titled "10 people who don't matter," noting that the growth of Linux has made his individual impact less significant.

In summer 2004, viewers of YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Company) ranked Torvalds 16th in the network's list of the 100 Greatest Finns. In 2010, he was included in The Britannica Guide to the World's Most Influential People as one of The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time (ISBN 9781615300037).

On October 11, 2017, the Linux company SUSE created a song titled "Linus Said" about the origin of the Linux kernel.