Editing Jarkko Oikarinen

{{short description|Finnish computer scientist}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Jarkko Oikarinen
| image       = 
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1967|08|16}}
| birth_place = [[Kuusamo]], [[Finland]]
| death_date  = 
| death_place = 
| nationality = Finland
| other_names = WiZ
| known_for   = [[Internet Relay Chat]]
| occupation  = 
}}

'''Jarkko Oikarinen''' (born 16 August 1967) is a [[Finland|Finnish]] IT professional and the inventor of the first [[Internet]] chat network, called [[Internet Relay Chat]] (IRC), where he is known as '''WiZ'''.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Decade of IRC |url=https://user-com.undernet.org/docs/10-years-of-irc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426180305/https://user-com.undernet.org/docs/10-years-of-irc |archive-date=2021-04-26 |access-date=2007-10-05 |publisher=undernet.org |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Biography and career==
Oikarinen was born in [[Kuusamo]]. While working at the [[University of Oulu]] in August 1988, he wrote the first IRC [[Server (computing)|server]] and [[client (computing)|client]] programs, which he produced to replace the [[MultiUser Talk|MUT]] (MultiUser Talk) program on the Finnish [[Bulletin board system|BBS]] OuluBox.<ref name=history>{{cite web |url=http://www.irc.org/history_docs/jarkko.html |title=IRC History by Jarkko Oikarinen |publisher=IRC.org |access-date=2007-10-05}}</ref> Using the [[Bitnet Relay]] chat system as inspiration,<ref name=history/> Oikarinen continued to develop IRC over the next four years, receiving assistance from Darren Reed in co-authoring the IRC Protocol.<ref name="cv">{{cite web|url=http://www.kumpu.org/cv.pdf|title=Curriculum Vitae: Jarkko Oikarinen|last=Oikarinen|first=Jarkko|work=personal homepage|access-date=2 August 2011}}</ref> In 1997, his development of IRC earned Oikarinen a [[Dvorak Awards|Dvorak Award]] for Personal Achievement—Outstanding Global Interactive Personal Communications System;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citivu.com/dvorak/97awds.html#4 |title=4. Personal Achievement – Outstanding Global Interactive Personal Communications System |work=1997 Dvorak Award Winners |publisher=Rancho Cucamonga California |access-date=2007-10-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011450/http://www.citivu.com/dvorak/97awds.html#4 |archive-date=2007-09-28 }}</ref> in 2005, the [[Millennium Technology Prize]] Foundation, a Finnish public-private partnership, honored him with one of three Special Recognition Awards.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.millenniumprize.fi/news/100/111/Three-people-centred-WWW-projects-in-Oulu-win-Special-Recognition-Awards/d,news_en/ |archive-url=http://www.technologyacademy.fi/blog/2005/03/17/suomi-millennium-palkitun-teknologian-soveltamisesta-tunnustukset-kolme-ihmislaheista-nettihanketta-palkittiin-oulussa/ |archive-date=March 17, 2005|title=Three People-centred WWW Projects in Oulu Win Special Recognition Awards |publisher= Millennium Technology Prize Foundation |date=March 17, 2005}}</ref>

He started working for medical image processing in 1990 in [[Oulu University Hospital]], developing research software for a neurosurgical workstation,<ref name= "neurosurgical workstation">{{cite web|url=http://kirjastolinkit.ouka.fi/kaleva/marras10/9954327.xml|title=neurosurgical workstation}}</ref> and between 1993 and 1996 he worked for [[Elekta]] in Stockholm, Sweden and Grenoble, France putting the research into commercial products marketed by [[Elekta]]. In 1997 he returned to [[Oulu University Hospital]] to finish his [[PhD]] as Joint Assistant Professor / Research Engineer, receiving the PhD from the [[University of Oulu]] in 1999,<ref name="cv" /> in areas of [[computer graphics]] and [[medical imaging]]. During these years he focused on [[telemedicine]], [[volume rendering]], [[signal processing]] and [[computed axial tomography]].<ref name="research">{{cite web|url=http://www.kumpu.org/research/index.html|title=Research|last=Oikarinen|first=Jarkko|work=personal homepage|access-date=2 August 2011}}</ref><ref name="cv" /> Once finishing his PhD, he has held the positions of Chief Software Architect of Add2Phone Oy (Helsinki, Finland), Head of R&D in [[Capricode]] (Oulu, Finland) and General Manager in [[Nokia]].<ref name="cv" />

He is also partner and chief software architect at an electronic games developer called Numeric Garden (Espoo, Finland).

Oikarinen and his wife, Kaija-Leena, were married in 1996 and have three children: Kasper, Matleena, and Marjaana.<ref name="cv" />

Oikarinen has been working for [[Google]] since 2011, initially in [[Stockholm, Sweden]], to work on the [[Google Hangouts]] project, and later on to develop its successor, [[Google Meet]]. In 2016 he moved to [[Kirkland, Washington]] and since 2021 he has again been working in [[Stockholm, Sweden]].<ref name="cv" />

== Sources ==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.kumpu.org  Jarkko Oikarinen's homepage]
* [http://www.irc.org/history_docs/jarkko.html  A history of IRC by Oikarinen at the IRC website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oikarinen, Jarkko}}
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:Computer programmers]]
[[Category:Finnish computer scientists]]
[[Category:IRC|Jarkko Oikarinen]]
[[Category:Google employees]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:University of Oulu alumni]]
[[Category:Nokia people]]
[[Category:People from Kuusamo]]
[[Category:Finnish expatriates in Sweden]]
[[Category:Finnish expatriates in the United States]]