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Richard Stallman
Technology Activism & Humanitarian

Richard Stallman

Founder of the free software movement and the GNU Project

16 March 1953 United States Verified by our editors
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Age
73 yrs
Birthday in 130 days
Works listed
3
Essay, Software
Honours
3
Most recent 2015
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Richard Stallman is an American programmer and activist who launched the GNU Project in 1983 to create a free Unix-like operating system and founded the Free Software Foundation. He wrote the GNU General Public License and early versions of Emacs and the GCC compiler. His statements have caused repeated controversy.

Biography

MIT AI Lab

Stallman studied physics at Harvard and worked at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1971, where he wrote the Emacs text editor. He was dismayed as the lab’s sharing culture gave way to proprietary software.

GNU

In September 1983 he announced GNU (“GNU’s Not Unix”), a completely free operating system. He founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985 and wrote GNU Emacs, the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and the GNU debugger. Combined with Linux, GNU tools form widely used operating systems.

The GPL

He devised “copyleft” and the GNU General Public License (1989), which require that modified versions remain free. The GPL became the most widely used free software licence.

Controversy

Stallman resigned from MIT and the FSF in 2019 after remarks about the Jeffrey Epstein case; he rejoined the FSF board in 2021, prompting criticism.

Timeline

  1. 1953

    Born in Manhattan, New York City, United States

  2. 1976

    Co-writes the original Emacs

  3. 1983

    Announces GNU

  4. 1985

    Founds the FSF; GNU Manifesto

  5. 1987

    GCC released

  6. 1989

    GPL version 1

  7. 1990

    MacArthur Fellowship

  8. 2019

    Resigns from MIT and the FSF

  9. 2021

    Returns to the FSF board

Notable works

  • 1985

    GNU Manifesto Essay

  • 1985

    GNU Emacs Software

  • 1989

    GNU General Public License Licence

Awards and honours

  • Grace Murray Hopper Award

    1990

  • EFF Pioneer Award

    1998

  • ACM Software System Award

    2015

Did you know?

  1. 1

    He insists on the name “GNU/Linux”.

  2. 2

    He sometimes appears as “Saint IGNUcius” of the Church of Emacs, in a joke costume.

  3. 3

    He does not carry a mobile phone, for privacy reasons.

Connections

Related people

Also born on 16 March

Frequently asked

Who is Richard Stallman?

Richard Stallman is an American programmer and activist who launched the GNU Project in 1983 to create a free Unix-like operating system and founded the Free Software Foundation. He wrote the GNU General Public License and early versions of Emacs and the GCC compiler. His statements have caused repeated controversy.

How old is Richard Stallman?

Richard Stallman is 73 years old, born on 16 March 1953 in Manhattan, New York City, United States.

Where is Richard Stallman from?

Richard Stallman was born in Manhattan, New York City, United States.

What is Richard Stallman known for?

Richard Stallman is best known for GNU Project (1983); Free Software Foundation; GNU GPL; GCC and Emacs.

What awards has Richard Stallman received?

Notable honours include Grace Murray Hopper Award (1990), EFF Pioneer Award (1998), ACM Software System Award (2015).

References

  1. Richard Stallman — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Richard Stallman — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Richard Stallman — IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  4. Richard Stallman — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  5. Richard Stallman — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  6. Official website. stallman.org. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  7. Richard Stallman (Q7439) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Richard Stallman”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

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Filed under Free softwareGNUOpen source ActivistProgrammer

About this profile

Cite this page

“Richard Stallman.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/richard-stallman

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