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Linus To Recieve Honorary Doctorate
JariK writes "Linus Torvalds will recieve an honorary doctorate
from the University of Stockholm Mathematical Department. The information can be found,
regrettably in Swedish only.
" Well, my Swedish is rusty - anyone post a translation below?
Did he design a new OS paradigm?
no.
Did he start the whole "put out there and share the code" or the Free Software or Open Source idea?
no.
Did he rewrite an improved Unix implimentation all by himself based on new ingenious concepts?
no.
did he start a small kernel based on existing and tested ideas and then have thousands of people expand it, imnprove it and make it grow?
yes.
is he an excellent programmer (probably 100x better than me)?
yes.
does this make you a genius or a really good programmer?
First things first. In Sweden honourary degree's isn't handed out to everybody, and as several (Swedish) posters alread pointed out it usually takes quite an effort to get one. There have been mistakes of course but much more often than not the people that get's the degree has definitely earned it. A little odd though that it was from a mathememathical faculty.
And to all of you that obviously doesn't think that linus deserves it, i have a few words to say:
Before Linux i can't remember i've seen a free SMP capable os with quite good driver support,robust kernel and even games and apps being built for it by ISV's. Now, have you ? In the same scale as Linux ? I Haven't for sure, and if that isn't something to give awards for i don't understand what in the open source movement should be awarded !
And for all of you that has contributed to Linux success i'd like to say that you work is highly appreciated. And i hope that you'll take this award as a recognition that what you do actually is something that is unique in it's own sense.
/Micke
This small news blurb (also in swedish) states that Linus is the youngest person ever to receive a honorary doctorate by the mathematical faculty. They call him a computer rebel and genius.
"Young Computer Genius One of This Year's Honorary Doctors
This year's honorary doctors at Stockholm University have been awarded. Among them is the merely 29 year old Finnish-Swede Linus Torvalds, who, among other things, created the world famous Linux operating system.
Torvalds resides in Santa Clara, USA...
The honorary doctorates are going to be formally awarded at a ceremony in Bla Hallen in the Stockholm City Hall on Friday the 24th of September..."
Found it on LinuxToday.
I think that Linus is Swedish even though he lived in Finland. He is a member of an ethnic minority. So, his fatherland really is Sweden.
From http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/linus/index.html :
"4. If Linus is Finnish, why is his birth language Swedish?
Finland has a significant (about 6%) ethnic-Swedish minority population. They call themselves ``finlandssvensk'' or ``finlandssvenskar'' and consider themselves Finns; many of their families have lived in Finland for centuries. Swedish is one of Finland's two official languages."
Funny, that Swedish message looked just like a Slashdot error. Maybe it's here.
(A M00se once bit my HTML Validator...)
A thesis is just writing things up. Any documentation he's done (either for the LDP or just on it's own) therefore counts as part of a thesis. Any copy of any write-up he's done that's been printed, bound and stored in the University Library qualifies as properly submitted, by the usual standards at most Universities. There are 17 million external examiners currently reviewing his work. I vote for him passing.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
This is the best translation I can do with my limited Swedish:
"Our best wooden furniture does not compare to the genius of Linus Torvalds. We bow and scrape before him, and in respect, we silence our mobile phones. We give him the door codes to our buildings so that he may visits our flats. We let him wear his shoes in the house. Cars stop in the streets for him. We drink Aquavit to him, and we compose and sing songs to him at our Kreftskivas. We name species of crayfish after him. Last year Stockholm was the Culture Capital of Europe, this year it is the Linus Capital of Europe, and we will name him winner of Eurovision automatically."
Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect
What Linus did is, he conducted a large scale experiment in software engineering. He tried a bazaar style development on a scale that nobody before him did. As a result, we know more about this software development process today than we did before.
If you read some academic magazines, such as, Communications of the ACM, you will find that many respected researchers complain about the lack of experimentation in CS. Linus did it. Sure, he didn't really plan to do what he did and he didn't write his findings properly up; that's why he gets a honorary degree and not a "real" one. Or maybe ESR should also get a degree, because in CatB, he wrote much of what Linus discovered up (he even verified the experiment on a smaller scale).
And regarding the complaints that the degree comes from a mathematical faculty: it doesn't. The article says "mathematical and natural science faculty". In Europe, CS (including software engineering) is often more closely associated with mathematics than with the engineering disciplines.
So, keep cool.
Chilli
-=- Just a random lambda hacker
I always thought it was odd how Linus had to take
time out to do a Masters Thesis. (I mean, LINUX
should have been worth a thesis). I think it's
great that the University sees fit to award him
a doctorate. Way better than giving one to some
suit, or politician...
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
For a group of people who pride themselves for being rebels and saving the world from bad software, there's a lot of bitterness towards people with university-issued bits of paper.
This industry was built by people who did and didn't graduate and some who don't give a damn about college. In the end, it's the software that matters.
Linus is being recognized by a group of folks for his INTELLECTUAL, not financial, contribution. I say he takes the doctorate and that we applaude the fact that someone in the Outside World acknowledges that what he's done is a Great Thing.
Hell, let's see if we can get a few more honorary degrees for some of the other Free Source coders and organizers out there...
-S. Louie
"I may be Love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
Young computer genius to receive one of this year's honorary doctorates
This year's honorary doctors at the University of Stockholm have now been appointed. Among them is the 29-year-old Finnish-Swedish Linus Torvalds, creator of the world-famous Linux operating system. Torvalds lives in Santa Clara, USA.
[snip other doctorates]
The honorary doctors will be promoted (?) at the traditional installation- and promotionceremony in the Blue Chamber of Stockholm City Hall on Friday the 24th of September, when new doctors and jubileedoctors (?) will be promoted as well. New professors will also be installed at this time.
What a curious mixture of elitism and anti-authoritarianism. If I were Linus, I'm not sure if I'd be insulted that you didn't seem to think I deserved a doctorate, or whipped up into a political furor over the way acadamia operates.
Let him accept his degree if he wants to. He certainly did enough work to earn it. I see nothing wrong with honoring great intellectual achievements this way, even if it does perpetuate the false mystique of acadamia.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
Philosophy is what the Ph in PhD means!
Linus has held both the project AND ideals together! Was he the first? ... No! Will he be the last? ... Hell no!
But Linus and avoided most of the pitfalls of other projects, free or not. He does not boast his achievements, and he, more importantly, does NOT take advantage of them either! In addition, he is CAREFUL how he bashes competitors. He does it in a ETHICAL, SINCERE AND TECHNICAL FASHION -- something most software companies need a good lesson in.
He is a GREAT LEADER for the OpenSource front. He has the character as well as the technical knowledge. He is not the best of either, but the best combination of the two I have ever seen.
-- BitMan
-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith
Independent Author, Consultant and Trainer
In Denmark (and i guess in Sweden) it is actually a great honor to receive a honorary degree. We don't use em much, and you usually have to be 70 before you get one, as a reward for a life long achivement.
Tom
In the USA, honorary degrees are handed out for silly reasons. Colleges that don't offer real Ph.D.s will still give out honorary Ph.D.s. Graduation speakers almost always are given an honorary degree. They really are pretty meaningless.
I've heard that in Europe that this isn't the case. In some cases, honorary degrees are considered more prestigius than earned degrees. Hence, this could be a really big deal for Linus.
Someone from Europe care to confirm or correct this understanding?
At least they gave it to a deserving person such as Linux. On the other hand, at my graduation a few weeks ago, they gave Ted Turner an Honorary Law Degree from the University of Georgia. The guy sat and spoke about how we were going to die from nuclear attacks. It seems as though "honorary degrees" are being given out like mad lately. The more money you give = Honorary Doctorate?
Leenoos Turfelds is tu be-a geefee un hunurery Ducturete-a degree-a frum zee Uneefersitiy ooff Stuckhulm. Mr. Turfelds is heeeled es zee
creetur ooff zee Leenoox oopereteeng system, a ferseeun ooff Uneex imbreced by zee Oopee Suoorce-a mufement. Bork Bork Bork!
By the way, I don't mean to belittle all the hard work that all you PhDs have done, but unfortunately, an original contribution does not equate to an important contribution. And I also think the *BSD OSes are significant contributions, certainly >= PhD quality.
Please note that Linus hasn't earned a degree. He may be the most brilliant man to ever touch a computer, but there is a lot more to earning a degree than demonstrating that your brilliant. What about a thesis?
I've always seen honorary degrees as nothing more than a way for the academic elite to maintain their stranglehold on 'intelligence'(i.e., the attitude that your not truly intelligent until you have a degree). What happens when great things are created by people without the academic stamp of approval? Some school rushes in to give them the stamp so that they can now be 'officially' intelligent.
Linus, refuse their degree. Tell the world that you were smart enough to guide the development of one of the world's greatest software systems without a degree, and that others can do the same.
People who have earned real doctorate degrees have every reason to be proud. It's something that takes years of hard work to obtain. Those achievements shouldn't be watered down by giving 'honorary' degrees to people who haven't done the work, just so universities can be the gatekeepers of intelligence.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Did he design a new OS paradigm?
From Merriam-Webster
Main Entry: paradigm
Pronunciation: 'par-&-"dIm also -"dim
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin paradigma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknynai to show side by side, from para- + deiknynai to show -- more at DICTION
Date: 15th century
1 : EXAMPLE, PATTERN; especially : an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype
Could be.
2 : an example of a conjugation or declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms
Probably not
3 : a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated
Now here is something. GNU is nice, but you would have to admit, Linux has pushed the GNU movement ahead by leaps and bounds. Linux could be considered the framework
Did he start the whole "put out there and share the code" or the Free Software or Open Source idea?
No, he didn't invent it, only helped it.
Did he rewrite an improved Unix implimentation all by himself based on new ingenious concepts?
Not exactly no. He wrote the orginal kernel which started all this nice AltOS movement. Things don't have to be ingenious to recieve praise. They just have to work better.
did he start a small kernel based on existing and tested ideas and then have thousands of people expand it, imnprove it and make it grow?
Not bad for a college student from Finland who speaks Swedish and has a thing for Penguins.
is he an excellent programmer (probably 100x better than me)?
Never seen ya program...
He has a good work ethic and that is what makes a programmer who he is.
RB
Hi all,
Why is it that so many people are so quick to put Linus down for his doctrate. Surely if you had managed to create an operating system, for free, and make it good enough and popular enough so that other people freely use it, you would be pretty happy when you got a doctrate for it.
I know that my ambition is to become a major jazz musicien (I'm currently only 17). However, I am aiming to make my money in computing... it's pretty difficult to get into money with music.
Anyway, I am aiming to got to university and do computer science. I would ideally like to study further and get a Ph.D. This is going to take a lot of work, *but* a lot less work that Linus has done with Linux.
So, would that make me any less deserving for a doctrate, honerary or other ? I would hope not.
Young computergenious one of this years honorary doctorates.
This years honorary doctorates at the university of Stockholm, have now been selected. Among them the only 29 year old finland-swede Linus Torvalds, who among other things has created the worldfamous operatingsystem Linux, is noticed. Torvalds is a resident of Santa Clara USA.
The following will be honorary doctorates:
Philosofical honorary doctorates:
At the faculty of humaniora:
dr Herbert Blume, Braunscheweig, Germany
professor Donald Davidson, Berkeley, USA and publisher Per I Gedin and professor Birgit Åkesson, both from Stockholm.
At the faculty of social studies:
professor Barney Glaser, Mill Valley, USA, socionom Leif Holgersson, Västerhaninge and FN:s special envoy in disability issues Bengt Lindqvist, Tyresö
And at the faculty of mathematical-natural science:
professor Josef Houstek, Checkian sience academy, professor Larry A. Mayer, University of New Brunswick, Kanada, professor Ross Norstrom, National Wildlife Research Centre, Kanada and the above mentioned Linus Torvalds.
Legal honorary doctorates:
Judge Leif Sevón and former chief prosecutor Eric Östberg, Stockholm.
--------
Hopefully this is all translated reasonably correct.