Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman (born 1953) is an American software developer and free software advocate. He founded the Free Software Foundation and initiated the GNU Project, aiming to create a free and open-source operating system. Stallman has been instrumental in promoting the principles of software freedom, open collaboration, and user autonomy in the digital world.

Stallman launched the GNU Project in September 1983 to create a Unix-like computer operating system composed entirely of free software. With this, he also launched the free software movement.

Richard Matthew Stallman, also known by his initials rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to use, study, distribute, and modify that software. Software which ensures these freedoms is termed free software. Stallman launched the GNU Project, founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in October 1985, developed the GNU C Compiler and GNU Emacs, and wrote all versions of the GNU General Public License.

• In September 2019, Stallman resigned as president of the FSF and left his visiting scientist role at MIT after making controversial comments about the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.