Photo: m:user:Elian / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Ettrich is exactly the type of unsung hero I love writing about. Most readers will not recognize his name, yet millions have used the KDE desktop he founded as a student in Tübingen, plus the LyX document system. The 2009 Order of Merit was well earned. What strikes me is the generosity of building free tools that quietly shape daily computing worldwide. He has no glamour, no public persona, just decades of foundational work that others stand on. I value that kind of contribution enormously, and I think it deserves far more recognition than it gets.
Overview
Matthias Ettrich (born 14 June 1972) is a German computer scientist and founder of the KDE and LyX projects.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Matthias Ettrich
- Name (Japanese)
- マティアス・エトリッヒ
- Reading
- まてぃあす・えとりっひ
- Born
- June 14, 1972 (age 53)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Rat
- Origin
- Bietigheim-Bissingen, Stuttgart Government Region, Germany
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- software engineer / computer scientist / engineer / programmer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Tübingen
Awards & achievements
- 2009 Medal of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Computer scientist — see all → · More people from Germany →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.