icigogotei13
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Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland. He is the son of journalists Anna and Nils Torvalds,[5] and the grandson of poet Ole Torvalds. Both of his parents were campus radicals at the University of Helsinki in the 1960s. His family belongs to the Swedish-speaking minority (5.5%) of Finland's population. Torvalds was named after Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize-winning chemist, although 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 Peanuts cartoon character", noting that this makes him half "Nobel-prize-winning chemist" and half "blanket-carrying cartoon character".[6]
Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, graduating with a master's degree in computer science from NODES research group.[7] His academic career was interrupted after his first year of study when he joined the Finnish Army, selecting the 11-month officer training program to fulfill the mandatory military service of Finland. In the army he holds the rank of second lieutenant, with the role of a ballistic calculation officer.[8] In 1990, he resumed his university studies, and was exposed to UNIX for the first time, in the form of a DEC MicroVAX running ULTRIX.[9] His M.Sc. thesis was titled Linux: A Portable Operating System.
His interest in computers began with a Commodore VIC-20.[10] After the VIC-20 he purchased a Sinclair QL, which he modified extensively, especially its operating system. He programmed an assembly language and a text editor for the QL, as well as a few games.[11] He is known to have written a Pac-Man clone named Cool Man. On January 5, 1991[12] he purchased an Intel 80386-based IBM PC[13] and spent a month playing the game Prince of Persia before receiving his MINIX copy, which in turn enabled him to begin work on Linux.[6][14]
Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, graduating with a master's degree in computer science from NODES research group.[7] His academic career was interrupted after his first year of study when he joined the Finnish Army, selecting the 11-month officer training program to fulfill the mandatory military service of Finland. In the army he holds the rank of second lieutenant, with the role of a ballistic calculation officer.[8] In 1990, he resumed his university studies, and was exposed to UNIX for the first time, in the form of a DEC MicroVAX running ULTRIX.[9] His M.Sc. thesis was titled Linux: A Portable Operating System.
His interest in computers began with a Commodore VIC-20.[10] After the VIC-20 he purchased a Sinclair QL, which he modified extensively, especially its operating system. He programmed an assembly language and a text editor for the QL, as well as a few games.[11] He is known to have written a Pac-Man clone named Cool Man. On January 5, 1991[12] he purchased an Intel 80386-based IBM PC[13] and spent a month playing the game Prince of Persia before receiving his MINIX copy, which in turn enabled him to begin work on Linux.[6][14]
