Jaan Tallinn

By admin , 21 December 2015
Jaan
Tallinn
Male
Description

Co-developer of Skype and FastTrack/Kazaa, Tallinn holds the world's record for the largest number of software downloads at almost 500 million. An Estonian programmer, he is widely celebrated for writing the peer-to-peer engines in the development of Skype and FastTrack/Kazaa. In 1989, he helped create Kosmonaut, the first Estonian computer game to be published outside his country. Along with Ahti Heinla and Priit Kasesalu, he was partner and co-founder of the development company Bluemoon, which created the game SkyRoads.

He was involved in most of the projects of the company, and, in addition to programming, his responsibilities were in management and business relations. Tallinn graduated from the University of Tartu in 1996 with a BSc in Theoretical Physics with a thesis that involved traveling interstellar distances using warps in space-time.

He has served as a member of the advisory board at Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and Robotics/Artificial Intelligence, as we move towards the Singularity. Tallinn has also been a member of the Estonian President's Academic Advisory Board, and one of three founders of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.

He is considered one of the world's foremost experts on P2P technologies and is often credited for helping to establish Estonia's global reputation for world class software and engineering talent.

Skype and Kazaa
Co-developer of Skype and FastTrack/Kazaa along with Ahti Heinla and Priit Kasesalu; he also currently holds the world’s record for the largest number of software downloads at almost 500 million
Date of Birth
1972-02-14
Jaan Tallinn

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