timeline of RMS

By tykeeprice21@gmail.com
  • 1953 - Birth

    1953 - Birth

    Richard Matthew Stallman born in New York City
  • 1971 - Arrives at MIT

    1971 - Arrives at MIT

    Begins working at MIT AI Lab as a freshman, joining the hacker community
  • 1974-1975 - Development of Emacs

    1974-1975 - Development of Emacs

    Creates Emacs, one of the first extensible text editors
  • 1980 - Printer Incident

    1980 - Printer Incident

    Cannot access source code for Xerox printer, crystallizing his views on software freedom
  • 1983 - GNU Project Announcement

    1983 - GNU Project Announcement

    Announces the GNU Project to create a free Unix-like operating system (Stallman, "Initial Announcement")
  • 1984 - Leaves MIT

    1984 - Leaves MIT

  • 1985 - Free Software Foundation

    1985 - Free Software Foundation

    Establishes the Free Software Foundation to support free software development
  • 1985 - GNU Manifesto

    1985 - GNU Manifesto

    Publishes the GNU Manifesto explaining his philosophy
  • 1989 - GPL Version 1

    1989 - GPL Version 1

    Releases the GNU General Public License, revolutionary free software license

  • 1991 - GPL Version 2

    Updates GPL to address new legal concerns

  • 1992 - Linux + GNU

    Linux kernel combines with GNU tools to create first complete free operating system

  • 1999 - Emacs Development Continues

    Continues maintaining Emacs through multiple versions
  • 2001 - Free Software Awards

    2001 - Free Software Awards

    Receives multiple awards including MacArthur Fellowship

  • 2007 - GPL Version 3

    Releases GPLv3 addressing software patents and digital restrictions

  • 2010s - Advocacy Work

    Continues speaking worldwide about software freedom, privacy, and digital rights
  • Present Day Impact

    Present Day Impact

    GNU/Linux powers billions of devices; GPL remains most popular free software license