Linus Torvalds
This celebrity goo was created by player Dan Donovan.
Scott Hardie provided the source image, gooed image, category, and difficulty, made minor changes to the clue provided by Dan, and wrote the explanation.
publication date: Friday, February 20, 2004 (part of Round XXII)
category: 
Inventions
clue: This colonel of open source just turned 26.
explanation: Torvalds was the famous inventor of Linux, an open-source operating system. The Linux kernel ("colonel") was upgraded to version 2.6 shortly before this goo went online. more…
solved by: Steve West, Denise Sawicki, Matthew Preston, Erik Bates, Steve Dunn, Mike Eberhart, David Mitzman, Megan Baxter, Aaron Fischer, Todd Brotsch, Christine Marie Doiron, Nadine Russell, Amir H. Sufyani, Elizabeth Chesher, Jason Charles Butterhoff, C. K., and Allan Russell
trivia: Dan Donovan requested this goo, and intentionally wrote the clue to be misleading. Many players, even those who guessed correctly (how many open-source inventors from Finland are there?), were stumped by the meaning of "just turned 26," since Torvalds was 34 at the time. Only a few realized that the clue was referring to the software, not to the inventor.
 | This goo represented Finland in the Goo World Tour. |
Similar Goos
Mikhail Kalashnikov
He invented the submachinegun (and the AK-47 in 1949), but didn't get a patent until recently. Go »
Frank Herbert
This guy's books about spice, worms, and a lot of sand became the best-selling science fiction series ever. Go »
Stephen Hawking
A brief history of his life would mention ALS. Who's the king? Go »
Harold Edgerton
This Alley-dwelling Doc was the true inventor of bullet time. Go »
Alan Turing
Wklv fubswdqdobvw gursshg wkh Erpeh rq Hqljpd. Go »
