Rasmus Lerdorf
Born 1968 · Age 58
Danish-Canadian programmer; creator and early author of PHP; long-time contributor to web infrastructure projects and open-source community; held engineering and advisory roles at Yahoo!, WePay, Etsy, and others.
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Life & Career Timeline
Birth in Qeqertarsuaq (Disko Island), Greenland
Born on Disko Island (Qeqertarsuaq), Greenland, then part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Family emigrated to Canada
Lerdorf's family moved from Denmark to Canada (family immigration).
Moved to King City, Ontario
Family relocated to King City, Ontario; began attending King City Secondary School.
Started King City Secondary School
Began secondary education at King City Secondary (attended 1983–1988).
Graduated King City Secondary School
Completed secondary education at King City Secondary School (class of 1988).
Entered University of Waterloo (approx.)
Enrolled at University of Waterloo in Systems Design Engineering (co-op program); multiple documented co-op work terms.
Co-op work in Porto Alegre, Brazil (Nutec)
Completed final co-op work terms with Nutec in Porto Alegre, Brazil while at University of Waterloo.
Graduated University of Waterloo (BASc Systems Design Engineering)
Received Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Relocated to Silicon Valley with Nutec
Nutec relocated Lerdorf to Silicon Valley after graduation to work for the company.
Quit Nutec and returned to Toronto to consult
Left Nutec because it was slow to move to the Web; returned to Toronto to do IT consulting.
Began developing scripts that became PHP
Developed a set of Perl/C CGI scripts to maintain his personal website (early PHP development).
Worked as IT consultant in Toronto (period)
Worked as an IT consultant in Toronto after leaving Nutec; continued PHP development while consulting through 1999.
Released first implementation PHP/FI
First implementation (Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter) enabling HTML embedding and form handling.
Added LIMIT clause to mSQL DBMS
Contributed the LIMIT clause to mSQL; later adapted by other SQL-compatible DBMSes.
PHP adopted and adapted widely (early ecosystem milestone)
Early adoption of PHP/FI by web developers; features like embedded HTML and form handling popularized dynamic web pages.
Announced Personal Home Page Tools (PHP) on Usenet
Announced the availability of PHP (Personal Home Page Tools) on comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi (June 8, 1995).
Posted 'Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools)' to Google Groups
Public posting (Google Groups archived) about the PHP release (dated 8 July 1995 in archives).
Contributed to Apache HTTP Server
Made contributions to Apache (mod_info referenced in archival docs); engaged with server infrastructure projects.
Joined IBM (Research Triangle Park / WebSphere work)
Worked for IBM around 1999–2000 developing internal products and Apache 2.0 architecture (Research Triangle Park reference).
Worked at Linuxcare (large-scale architecture)
Employed at Linuxcare circa 2000–2001 handling large-scale application architecture.
Advised/projects: MySQL, Room77, others
Advised multiple projects/sites (MySQL, Room77 listed among sites he advised); dates spread across 2000s and 2010s.
Served on Apache Software Foundation board (approx.)
Reported involvement with the Apache Software Foundation board of directors; precise term dates not specified in sources.
Startup role in Silicon Valley during dot-com era (company failed)
Joined a Silicon Valley startup that later failed during the dot-com bust; returned focus to PHP project.
Taught PHP to Douglas Adams (approx.)
Reported to have taught PHP to Douglas Adams in London before Adams' death (Adams died 2001). Date approximate.
Joined Yahoo! as Infrastructure Architecture Engineer
Employed at Yahoo! from September 2002 helping standardize Yahoo!'s web serving platform on PHP.
Named in MIT Technology Review TR100 (Young Innovators Under 35)
Recognized as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under age 35 (TR100, 2003).
Increased public visibility after TR100 recognition
Inclusion in MIT Technology Review TR100 helped raise his public profile and likely increased speaking engagements and advisory opportunities.
Co-authored 'Programming PHP' (O'Reilly)
Published Programming PHP (Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe, Peter MacIntyre) with O'Reilly in 2006.
PHP project matured into large open-source community
By mid-2000s PHP had grown from Lerdorf's personal tools into a major open-source language with hundreds of contributors; Lerdorf continued to contribute but leadership broadened.
Keynote at OSCMS 2007 (security presentation)
Keynote presentation at OSCMS Summit 2007 where he presented security vulnerabilities in each represented project.
Taught PHP to Arthur C. Clarke (approx.)
Reported to have taught Arthur C. Clarke in Sri Lanka before Clarke's death (Clarke died 2008). Date approximate.
Inducted into King City Secondary School Case of Distinction
Inducted (2008) into KCSS alumni Case of Distinction in recognition of outstanding alumni achievements.
Left Yahoo! (end of tenure)
Ended employment at Yahoo! in November 2009 after nearly seven years as an infrastructure architecture engineer.
Joined WePay to develop API
Joined the group payments startup WePay in 2010 to help develop their application programming interface.
Roving consultant for startups
Spent 2011 working as a roving consultant for startups, advising on architecture and web platform issues.
Became 'distinguished engineer' at Etsy (role described in later bios)
Multiple biographical sources describe Lerdorf as a distinguished engineer at Etsy after joining in 2012; exact title timeline varies.
Joined Etsy (announced via Twitter)
Announced on Twitter on 22 Feb 2012 that he had joined Etsy; role later described as distinguished engineer/engineer.
Public advisor role growth (Etsy/others overlap)
By mid-2010s Lerdorf's advisory roles expanded (Jelastic, MySQL, Room77, WePay), reflecting recognition as a platform and infrastructure expert.
Joined Jelastic as Senior Advisor
Became a senior advisor to Jelastic (July 2013) to help with creation of new technology.
PHP 7 released (ecosystem milestone)
PHP 7 released at end of 2015; Lerdorf commented on compatibility and performance improvements from the PHP community.
Profile/interview at Etsy's Dublin office (SiliconRepublic)
Profile and interview published (13 Jan 2016) discussing his work at Etsy, feelings about programming, and PHP's role on the web.
Commented publicly on PHP's widespread usage (approx. '80% of web')
Public statements and interviews around 2016 noted PHP powering a very large share of websites; often-cited figures vary, with quotes of up to ~80% in some articles (contextual claim).
Regained Danish citizenship (tweet)
Tweeted on Nov 26, 2016 that he was a Danish citizen again after having become Canadian earlier and Denmark allowing dual citizenship.
Keynote/talk at WeAreDevelopers Conference (PHP 7)
Presented 'PHP in 2017' and discussed the new PHP 7 release at WeAreDevelopers Conference (YouTube record dated 30 May 2017).
Spoke at WeAreDevelopers Conference (25 years of PHP)
Appeared at WeAreDevelopers Conference 2019 discussing PHP's history and 25 years of PHP.
Ongoing contributions to PHP project
Continued to contribute to PHP core and community projects (ongoing commitment as a core contributor/emeritus figure).
Profiled in multiple biographical references (EBSCO summary)
Biographical summaries updated (2024) noting continued role at Etsy, contributions to Apache and MySQL, and open-source advocacy.
Estimated net worth (public estimate)
Conservative estimate of net worth based on long career, senior roles at major tech firms, book royalties, advisory fees, and absence of major liquidating exit.
Key Achievement Ages
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