Hello everybody out there using minix - I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.

These were the words written by Linus Torvalds on August 25, 1991, which changed the history of computing. At the time, he was still a student, with no idea that he would change the world with this small personal project, which he began as an effort to learn assembly language for the 8086.

Born in Finland, his first encounter with computers came at the age of 11, using a Commodore VIC 20. He started coding in BASIC. During his university studies, he was taught by Andrew Tanenbaum, a name familiar to anyone who has studied computer science due to his hefty books on networks and operating systems. Without him, Torvalds would never have been inspired to start Linux, as his initial work was based on Minix, an operating system developed by Tanenbaum in 1987.

The original name he wanted to give his operating system was Freax, but thankfully, the FTP administrator who hosted the first kernel of the system changed it to the now well-known Linux.

Linux has since changed the course of computing, as most servers and mobile phones run some version of its kernel. However, it didn’t stop there. The need to manage the changes made by kernel developers led Torvalds to another major achievement: the creation of the widely used Git. Despite his immense success, Torvalds is well-known to technology enthusiasts but not universally loved.

Despite his significant accomplishments, he is infamous for clashes with other computing icons, such as Richard Stallman (regarding the naming of Linux), and with major tech companies like NVIDIA. Torvalds is not one to hold back, and like many brilliant minds in computing, he has a tendency to be blunt, often coming across as rude to people he considers foolish.

He is married to Tove Torvalds, a karate champion, and they have three children. In 2010, he became a U.S. citizen and identifies as an atheist and non-religious.