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?

Linus breakes the record

This [tv4.se] 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.

Translation

"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 [linuxtoday.com].

Er, *here*

Funny, that Swedish message looked just like a Slashdot error. Maybe it's here [info.su.se].

(A M00se once bit my HTML Validator...)

Re:Before everyone shouts hooray...

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.

Translation

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."

Why not?

First of all, I don't want to discuss the value of honorary degrees in general, but comment on whether or not Linus deserves a doctorate. I am holding a doctorate in computer science (which I got by writing a thesis and all that) and I am currently assistant professor at a computer science institute; so, in contrast to many of the earlier posters, I guess, I know what I am talking about.

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

odd how he had to do a thesis

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...

Quick'n dirty translation

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.

Re:Honorary Degrees--big deal?

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.

Honorary Degrees--big deal?

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?

Honorary Doctorate

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?

Translation

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!

Linus has done more than enough to earn a PhD

Most (almost all?) PhD dissertations are quickly put to eternal rest on dusty library shelves, never again to see the light of day. In contrast, Linus has made a visible and significant contribution. Several of you have complained that it is not original. Linus is the developer/coordinator of a free OS kernel that has put fear into Microsoft and all other commercial OS companies. No particular piece is original [note: no piece of a program is original if you look at small-enough pieces, e.g., all programs are formed out of machine instructions], but the combination forming the Linux kernel clearly is original by observing the results. You naysayers can prove me wrong by programming your own world-class OS that gets used by millions of people.

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.

Before everyone shouts hooray...

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.

Not Much

Did he design a new OS paradigm?

From Merriam-Webster [m-w.com]
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

Translation of the article.

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.