The science barometer has analysed the public's views on science, academics and scientists. They were asked, among other things, whom they would mention if asked to give the name of a now living, significant Finnish academic.

The second place on the list was taken by Linus Torvalds. Even if this world-famous IT developer may not be an academic according to all the criteria of the scientific community, the public evidently acknowledges his worth.

Linus Torvalds started studying at the Helsinki University Department of Computer Science in 1988. He is especially known for the Linux operating system that he developed, which he also described in his Master’s thesis ‘Linux – a portable operating system’ in 1996.

The science barometer 2013: http://www.sci.fi/~yhdys/tb5/english5.htm