Torvalds () is a Swedish/Finnish family name. It may refer to: People Ole Torvalds (1916–1995), journalist and poet Nils Torvalds (b. 1945), son of Ole; broadcast journalist, writer and politician Linus Torvalds (b. 1969), son of Nils; software engineer and creator of the Linux kernel, who now works and lives in the U.S. Other 9793 Torvalds, asteroid named for Linus Torvalds Tanenbaum–Torvalds debate, debate between Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Linus Torvalds about Linux and kernel architecture in general See also Torvald (disambiguation) Surnames Swedish-language surnames