Father of Linux, Linus Torvalds, has today received the 2012 Millenium Technology Prize. The announcement of this year's winner was made back in April. Linus received the award today at the Technology Academy Finland.

Linus is sharing this year's award with Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, who won the prize in recognition of his discovery of a new method to develop induced pluripotent stem cells for medical research. This is the first time that the Grand Prize has been shared by two scientists. The 1.2m Euros prize fund will be split, with both winners receiving 600,000 Euros each.

Accepting the price in the city of his birth, Helsinki, Linus Torvalds said, "I'm really honored to be the joint recipient of this year's Millennium Technology Prize. This recognition is particularly important to me given that it’s given by the Technology Academy of Finland. Thank you to the International Selection Committee and the TAF Board. I'd also like to thank all the people I've worked with, who have helped make the project not only such a technical success, but have made it so fun and interesting."

The President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, presented the prize today during the ceremony at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki in front of an audience of scientists and business leaders.

Image Courtesy: Dirk Hohndel