- 1969-, Finnish-American software engineer
- created the Linux kernel in 1991, the open-source operating system kernel running the majority of servers, supercomputers, and Android devices
- invented Git in 2005: distributed version control system enabling massively parallel open-source collaboration
- Linux demonstrated that decentralized volunteer development produces robust, production-grade infrastructure
- the open-source development model Torvalds pioneered is the template for collaborative protocol development including cyber
- benevolent dictator governance: a single maintainer with final merge authority over a distributed contributor network
- Linux kernel: over 30 million lines of code from thousands of contributors, the largest collaborative software project in history
- foundation of server infrastructure that hosts the entire digital economy, cloud computing, and blockchain networks