LINUS TORVALDS
Linus Torvalds
Born December 28, 1969
Helsinki, Finland
Residence Portland, Oregon
Nationality Finnish
Employer Linux Foundation
Occupation Software engineer
Known for Linux
Spouse Tove Torvalds
Children Patricia Miranda Torvalds
Daniela Yolanda Torvalds
Celeste Amanda Torvalds
Parents Nils Torvalds (father)
Anna Torvalds (mother)
Linus Benedict Torvalds pronunciation (born December 28, 1969 in
Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer best known for initiating the
development of the Linux kernel. He now acts as the project's coordinator.
Linus Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland, the son of journalists Anna and
Nils Torvalds, and the grandson of poet Ole Torvalds. His family belongs to
the Swedish-speaking minority (5.5%) of Finland's population. Torvalds was named
after Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize-winning chemist, although in the
book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Torvalds is quoted as
saying, "I think I was named equally for Linus the peanut-cartoon character,"
noting that this makes him half "Nobel-prize-winning chemist" and half "blanket-carrying
cartoon character." Both of his parents were campus radicals at the
University of Helsinki in the 1960s.
Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, graduating with
a master's degree in computer science. His M.Sc. thesis was titled Linux: A
Portable Operating System. From 1997 to 1999 he was involved in 86open helping
to choose the standard binary format for Linux and Unix.
His interest in computers began with a Commodore VIC-20. After the VIC-20 he
purchased a Sinclair QL which he modified extensively, especially its operating
system. He programmed an assembler and a text editor for the QL, as well as a
few games. He is known to have written a Pac-Man clone named Cool Man. In
1990 he purchased an Intel 80386-based IBM PC and spent a few weeks playing the
game Prince of Persia before receiving his MINIX copy which in turn enabled him
to begin his work on Linux.
Linus Torvalds is married to Tove Torvalds a six-time Finnish
national Karate champion – whom he first met in the autumn of 1993. Torvalds
was running introductory computer laboratory exercises for students and
instructed the course attendants to send him an e-mail as a test, to which Tove
responded with an e-mail asking for a date. Tove and Linus were later married
and have three daughters, Patricia, Daniela, and Celeste.
After a visit to Transmeta in late 1996, he accepted a position at the
company in California, where he would work from February 1997 through June 2003.
He then moved to the Open Source Development Labs, which has since merged with
the Free Standards Group to become the Linux Foundation, under whose auspices he
continues to work. In June of 2004, Torvalds and his family moved to Portland,
Oregon to be closer to the consortium's Beaverton, Oregon-based headquarters.
Red Hat and VA Linux, both leading developers of Linux-based software, presented
Torvalds with stock options in gratitude for his creation. In 1999, both
companies went public and Torvalds' net worth shot up to roughly $20 million.
His personal mascot is a penguin nicknamed Tux, which has been widely adopted by
the Linux community as the mascot of the Linux kernel.
Unlike many open source icons, Torvalds maintains a low profile and generally
refuses to comment on competing software products. Torvalds generally stays out
of non-kernel-related debates. Although Torvalds believes that "open source is
the only right way to do software", he also has said that he uses the "best tool
for the job", even if that includes proprietary software. He has been
criticized for his use and alleged advocacy of the proprietary BitKeeper
software for version control in the Linux kernel. However, Torvalds has since
written a free-software replacement for BitKeeper called Git. Torvalds has
commented on official GNOME developmental mailing lists that, in terms of
desktop environments, he encourages users to switch to KDE and he explained
why.
Linus Torvalds
Born December 28, 1969
Helsinki, Finland
Residence Portland, Oregon
Nationality Finnish
Employer Linux Foundation
Occupation Software engineer
Known for Linux
Spouse Tove Torvalds
Children Patricia Miranda Torvalds
Daniela Yolanda Torvalds
Celeste Amanda Torvalds
Parents Nils Torvalds (father)
Anna Torvalds (mother)
Linus Benedict Torvalds pronunciation (born December 28, 1969 in
Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer best known for initiating the
development of the Linux kernel. He now acts as the project's coordinator.
Linus Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland, the son of journalists Anna and
Nils Torvalds, and the grandson of poet Ole Torvalds. His family belongs to
the Swedish-speaking minority (5.5%) of Finland's population. Torvalds was named
after Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize-winning chemist, although in the
book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Torvalds is quoted as
saying, "I think I was named equally for Linus the peanut-cartoon character,"
noting that this makes him half "Nobel-prize-winning chemist" and half "blanket-carrying
cartoon character." Both of his parents were campus radicals at the
University of Helsinki in the 1960s.
Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, graduating with
a master's degree in computer science. His M.Sc. thesis was titled Linux: A
Portable Operating System. From 1997 to 1999 he was involved in 86open helping
to choose the standard binary format for Linux and Unix.
His interest in computers began with a Commodore VIC-20. After the VIC-20 he
purchased a Sinclair QL which he modified extensively, especially its operating
system. He programmed an assembler and a text editor for the QL, as well as a
few games. He is known to have written a Pac-Man clone named Cool Man. In
1990 he purchased an Intel 80386-based IBM PC and spent a few weeks playing the
game Prince of Persia before receiving his MINIX copy which in turn enabled him
to begin his work on Linux.
Linus Torvalds is married to Tove Torvalds a six-time Finnish
national Karate champion – whom he first met in the autumn of 1993. Torvalds
was running introductory computer laboratory exercises for students and
instructed the course attendants to send him an e-mail as a test, to which Tove
responded with an e-mail asking for a date. Tove and Linus were later married
and have three daughters, Patricia, Daniela, and Celeste.
After a visit to Transmeta in late 1996, he accepted a position at the
company in California, where he would work from February 1997 through June 2003.
He then moved to the Open Source Development Labs, which has since merged with
the Free Standards Group to become the Linux Foundation, under whose auspices he
continues to work. In June of 2004, Torvalds and his family moved to Portland,
Oregon to be closer to the consortium's Beaverton, Oregon-based headquarters.
Red Hat and VA Linux, both leading developers of Linux-based software, presented
Torvalds with stock options in gratitude for his creation. In 1999, both
companies went public and Torvalds' net worth shot up to roughly $20 million.
His personal mascot is a penguin nicknamed Tux, which has been widely adopted by
the Linux community as the mascot of the Linux kernel.
Unlike many open source icons, Torvalds maintains a low profile and generally
refuses to comment on competing software products. Torvalds generally stays out
of non-kernel-related debates. Although Torvalds believes that "open source is
the only right way to do software", he also has said that he uses the "best tool
for the job", even if that includes proprietary software. He has been
criticized for his use and alleged advocacy of the proprietary BitKeeper
software for version control in the Linux kernel. However, Torvalds has since
written a free-software replacement for BitKeeper called Git. Torvalds has
commented on official GNOME developmental mailing lists that, in terms of
desktop environments, he encourages users to switch to KDE and he explained
why.