Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Linus Torvalds is the kind of person whose impact is almost impossible to overstate — he wrote the Linux kernel as a college student in Helsinki just because he wanted a better operating system for himself, then handed it to the world with a casual "here, do whatever you want with it," and now it runs practically everything from Android phones to the servers behind the internet to the Mars rovers. He also gave us Git almost as a side project, which is now how basically every developer on the planet manages code. He's notoriously blunt, famously uninterested in PR polish, and has never seemed to care much about being likable — he just cares about the work being right. For a guy who's never been a celebrity in any traditional sense, his fingerprints are on more of modern life than almost anyone alive.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Linus Torvalds
- Name (Japanese)
- リーナス・トーバルズ
- Reading
- りーなす・とーばるず
- Born
- December 28, 1969 (age 56)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Rooster
- Origin
- Helsinki, Finland
- Occupation
- programmer / software developer / writer / inventor / blogger
2. Background
- University
- University of Helsinki
Awards & achievements
- 2012 Millennium Technology Prize
- 2014 Computer Pioneer Award
- Suuret suomalaiset
- 2000 Lovelace Medal
- 1999 honorary doctor of Stockholm University
- 1998 EFF Award
- 2000 doctor honoris causa of the University of Helsinki
- 2008 Computer History Museum Fellow
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Subsurface | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Linus Torvalds born?
Born December 28, 1969 (age 56).
Where is Linus Torvalds from?
Linus Torvalds is from Helsinki, Finland.
What does Linus Torvalds do?
Linus Torvalds works as programmer, software developer, writer, inventor, blogger.
What is Linus Torvalds known for?
Notable works include Subsurface.
Programmer — see all → · More people from Finland →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.