Profile
Linus Torvalds: The Student Whose Hobby Runs the Internet
Finnish-American creator of Linux and Git
Linus Torvalds grew up in Helsinki in a family of journalists and began programming on his grandfather's computer. While studying at the University of Helsinki, he became frustrated with the operating systems available for his PC and decided to write his own.
In August 1991 he posted a message online saying he was working on a free operating system, "just a hobby". Programmers around the world joined in, and Linux grew into a vast open-source project. It now powers most web servers, all of the world's top supercomputers and billions of Android phones.
In 2005 he created Git, a tool for managing code that became the industry standard. He moved to the United States, where he still oversees Linux development through the Linux Foundation.
Career highlights
- 1991Linux announced: famous 'just a hobby' post
- 1994Linux 1.0: first stable release
- 1997Moves to the US: joins chip company Transmeta
- 2005Git: creates version control system
- 2012Millennium Technology Prize: shares major award
- 2014IEEE Computer Pioneer Award: honoured for Linux
Did you know?The Linux mascot is a penguin called Tux, chosen partly because he had once been nipped by a penguin at a zoo.
