Linux (ⁱ/ˈlɪnəks/ LIN-əks or /ˈlɪnʊks/ LIN-uuks) is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of Linux is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released 5 October 1991 by Linus Torvalds.

Linux was originally developed as a free operating system for Intel x86-based personal computers. It has since been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. It is a leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers: more than 90% of today's 500 fastest supercomputers run some variant of Linux, including the 10 fastest. Linux also runs on embedded systems (devices where the operating system is typically built into the firmware and highly tailored to the system) such as mobile phones, tablet computers, network routers, televisions and video game consoles; the Android system in wide use on mobile devices is built on the Linux kernel.

Linus Benedict Torvalds (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈliːn.ɵs ˈtuːr.valds] ( listen); born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish Americansoftware engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator. He also created the revision control system Git. He was honored (shared with Dr Shinya Yamanaka) with the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize by the Technology Academy Finland "in recognition of his creation of a new open source operating system for computers leading to the widely used Linux kernel".

Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland. He is the son of journalists Anna and Nils Torvalds, 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".

Nils Torvalds (born August 7, 1945 in Ekenäs) is a Finnish-Swede broadcast journalist, writer and politician. Torvalds is the son of the poet Ole Torvalds, and the father of the computer programmer Linus Torvalds of Linux kernel fame.

Torvalds worked as a journalist of Finlands Svenska Television from 1982. He has been a correspondent in Moscow and later in Washington. Torvalds is an author and co-writer of books about Russia and the Soviet Union.

Torvalds was active in the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) since he was a college student in the 1960s. He was elected to the Central Committee of the SKP in 1982. He belonged to the Taistoist (hardline) minority. His political beliefs developed after learning of the atrocities committed against communist sympathizers in Finland. In his son Linus' book, he is reported as having lost enthusiasm for Communism.

In 2007 Torvalds was elected to the post of the third vice chairperson of the Swedish People's Party. In 2008, he was elected in Helsinki City Council for term 2009–2012. Torvalds was a candidate for European Parliament election in 2009 on the Swedish People's Party list. He got 14,044 votes and was not allocated a seat.