Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Now It's Doctor Linus Torvalds

Posted by Roblimo on from the long-overdue dept.

Uart writes "Linus Torvalds, is the youngest recipient (at 29) ever of The University of Stockholm's honorary doctorate. Read about it here." (From Linux Today).

2 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Really Dr.? by Bassthang · · Score: 5

    No. Or more precisely, a different kind of weight. That is acceptance by the senior academic hierarchy of the importance of your (possibly non-academic) achiements; as opposed to the recognition by your peers in your specialist subject of a level of knowledge of that field and of research in general that is signified by a normal PhD.

    So the big-wigs at Stockholm think Linus is hot stuff, whereas the CS department there would in theory require him to submit a thesis if he wanted a PhD from them!

    --
    "What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death."
  2. Honorary degrees mean more by jflynn · · Score: 5

    I'm completely with you on the general uselessness of college certification. After all, I'm a college dropout myself but like to pretend that 27 years programming means something too. This is not to say that lots of smart people don't have degrees, or that college is a bad idea, they do and it's not. But counting soley on a degree to evaluate a person's worth is plain oversimplification. A technical exam at the interview is both more fair and certain.

    But honorary PhDs are closer to what the real meaning of the degree should be. Someone who has not only mastered their field, but contributed to it significantly. In that sense I think this award to Dr. Torvalds is right on, and he deserves congratulations for it. If only all degrees were so well bestowed.