Mark Shuttleworth
South African entrepreneur who founded Ubuntu and flew to the space station
- Age
- 53 yrs
- Birthday in 317 days
- Works listed
- 1
- Operating system
- Honours
- 0
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Mark Shuttleworth is a South African-British entrepreneur who founded the internet security company Thawte, sold it to VeriSign, and then founded Canonical, which develops the Ubuntu Linux operating system. In 2002 he became the first African in space as a paying visitor to the International Space Station.
Biography
Thawte
Shuttleworth studied finance and information systems at the University of Cape Town. In 1995 he founded Thawte, which issued digital certificates for secure websites. VeriSign bought it in 1999 for about $575 million.
Space
In April 2002 he flew on a Soyuz to the International Space Station, spending eight days doing research experiments after training in Russia. He was the second self-funded space tourist and the first African in space.
Ubuntu
In 2004 he founded Canonical in London and launched Ubuntu, a free Linux distribution named after the southern African idea of shared humanity. Ubuntu became the most popular Linux for desktops and a major platform for cloud servers.
Philanthropy
He set up the Shuttleworth Foundation, which funds open-knowledge projects.
Timeline
-
1973
Born in Welkom, South Africa
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1995
Founds Thawte
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1999
Sells Thawte to VeriSign
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2002
Flies to the International Space Station
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2004
Founds Canonical; first Ubuntu release
-
2010
Hands over CEO role, stays as leader
-
2017
Returns as Canonical CEO
Notable works
-
2004
Ubuntu Operating system
Did you know?
-
1
Ubuntu releases have alliterative animal names such as “Warty Warthog”.
-
2
He paid about $20 million for his spaceflight.
-
3
He was a Debian developer in the 1990s.
Connections
Related people
Also born on 18 September
- Kunal Kapur Food & Cooking · Chef and judge of MasterChef India 1979
-
Shabana Azmi
Film & TV · Actress of parallel and mainstream cinema, five-time National Film Award winner
1950
-
John McAfee
Technology · Founder of McAfee antivirus and a controversial public figure
1945
-
Timotheus Höttges
Technology · CEO of Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile US
1962
Frequently asked
Who is Mark Shuttleworth?
Mark Shuttleworth is a South African-British entrepreneur who founded the internet security company Thawte, sold it to VeriSign, and then founded Canonical, which develops the Ubuntu Linux operating system. In 2002 he became the first African in space as a paying visitor to the International Space Station.
How old is Mark Shuttleworth?
Mark Shuttleworth is 53 years old, born on 18 September 1973 in Welkom, South Africa.
Where is Mark Shuttleworth from?
Mark Shuttleworth was born in Welkom, South Africa.
What is Mark Shuttleworth known for?
Mark Shuttleworth is best known for Thawte; founding Canonical and Ubuntu Linux; second self-funded space tourist (2002).
References
- Mark Shuttleworth — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Mark Shuttleworth — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. www.markshuttleworth.com. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Mark Shuttleworth (Q227030) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Mark Shuttleworth”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Mark Shuttleworth.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/mark-shuttleworth
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