Linus Benedict Torvalds: Father of Linux OS

Linus 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 (roughly 5%) of Finland's population. Torvalds was named after Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize-winning chemist, although he claims he was named after Linus in the Peanuts comic strip. 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 "a mix of 50 percent Nobel-prize-winning chemist and 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 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.About 2% of the current Linux kernel is written by Torvalds himself[citation needed]. Since Linux has had thousands of contributors, such a percentage is very respectable. Torvalds remains the ultimate authority (aka Benevolent Dictator for Life) on what new code is incorporated into the Linux kernel.Torvalds owns the "Linux" trademark, and monitors use of it chiefly through the non-profit organization Linux International. Linux's wide and passionate userbase makes trademark abuse difficult as misuse is rapidly detected.