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Linus Torvalds

28 December 1969 – present

Linus Torvalds is a Finnish-American software engineer who created the Linux kernel and remains its principal maintainer. He announced the project as a student at the University of Helsinki in 1991 and released it under the GNU General Public License. He also created the distributed version control system Git in 2005.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Linus Torvalds.

Life events

Born in Helsinki, Finland
28 December 1969

Born into a Swedish-speaking Finnish family of journalists.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Enrolled at the University of Helsinki to study computer science
1988

His studies were interrupted by a year of national service in the Finnish Army.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Announced the Linux kernel project on the comp.os.minix newsgroup
25 August 1991

Described it as a hobby operating system that would not be big and professional like GNU.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Released version 1.0 of the Linux kernel
March 1994

The first release considered feature-complete for general use.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Moved to California to work for Transmeta
1997 – 2003

Joined the semiconductor start-up in Santa Clara while continuing to maintain the kernel.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Left Transmeta for the Open Source Development Labs
2003

Took a fellowship that let him work full time on the Linux kernel; the body later became the Linux Foundation.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Created the Git version control system
April 2005

Wrote Git after the kernel project lost the right to use the proprietary BitKeeper system.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Became a United States citizen
2010

Naturalised after more than a decade living in the United States.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Personal ✓
Shared the Millennium Technology Prize
2012

Awarded by Technology Academy Finland jointly with stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓