Linus Torvalds to be made Fellow of the Computer History Museum
Paw Prints: Writings of the maddog
The Computer History Museum (http://www.computerhistory.org/about/) in Mountain View, California is one of the largest multi-national museums in the world dedicated to the computing industry. Every year they choose technologists and entrepreneurs who have made great contributions to computer science and honor them by admiting them to "The Hall of Fellows". Past Fellows have included Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, Maurice Wilkes, John Backus, Jay Forrester, Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and others whose contributions were of stellar calibre.
In 2007 I heard that the nominations were open, and having seen the quality of people who had been selected in the past, I submitted a nomination for one of my favorite programmers, Linus Torvalds. Then with typical "maddog" efficiency, I promptly forgot about it.
Fast forward to May of this year when a very nice lady from the Computer Museum called to tell me that Linus had been accepted for the 2008 awards and would I help them locate him? For a few moments I did not even know what she was talking about. Then a slow chill came over me, and I went back through my files to find the nomination. Oh great! Now all I had to do was convince Linus to accept the award.
This turned out to be easier than I thought because the nice lady told me that the Computer Museum recognized that most of its Fellows did not like giving speeches, so Linus would not have to do that. Great! Secondly, there is an exhibit at the Computer Museum that I though Linus would like to see, that of the Babbage Difference Engine (http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/). The nice lady told me that Linus "could even crank the engine if he wanted". With both of these incentives, I called Linus to discuss attending the awards dinner, and he agreed.
It is good that Linus and Linux be recognized this way. This is more than just one person receiving this award, in effect it is the entire community. It will inspire other young people to move forward with their projects. Tens of thousands of people will go to the Computer History Museum every year and see the story of Linux told in the Hall of Fellows.
Additionally on the night of October 21st two other Fellows will be inducted: Bob Metcalfe, who led the invention, standardization and commercialization of ETHERNET, and Jean Bartik, who was one of the first programmers on the ENIAC. Since Jean, as a woman, was one of the first programmers, I have deferred to Rikki Kite to Blog about Jean in her "ROSE" Blog.
The night of October 21st will be a special night for me, as I see a friend and a community honored for the work that they have done.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
Linus Torvalds in a computer museum...
A lot of history in computing is dissapearing fast and needs to be conserved for understanding before the computers take over
It is certainly an ideal opportunity to make some publicity for those museums. That Open Source is recognized by accepting Linus is a bonus for everyone working in this field.
Great!