Fernando Corbato developed Multics, which led to Unix, which led to Linux.

True if historical records show that Corbató led the development of Multics, that Unix was inspired by and derived from ideas in Multics, and that Linux was modelled on Unix. Mostly true if this holds but 'developed' overstates his role somewhat, for example if he led a team that included others, or if the 'begat' links are influence rather than direct code descent. Mixed if one of the links in the chain is disputed. Mostly false if Corbató had only a minor role in Multics. False if he was not involved in Multics or the lineage does not hold.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 History Multicians (Multics history site)

   “Multics design was started in 1965 as a joint project by MIT's Project MAC, Bell Telephone Laboratories, and General Electric Company's Large Computer Products Division. Professor Fernando J. Corbató of MIT led the project.”

2. E2 History Multicians (Multics history site)

   “The Project MAC Computer Systems Research Group, led by MIT Prof. Fernando J. Corbató, accounted for about a third of Project MAC's budget; its goal was to design and implement a successor operating system to CTSS.”

3. E3 History Multicians (multicians.org)

   “The Project MAC Computer Systems Research Group, led by MIT Prof. Fernando J. Corbató, accounted for about a third of Project MAC's budget; its goal was to design and implement a successor operating system to CTSS.”

4. E4 History Multicians (multicians.org)

   “(Clingen and Corbató mention that we couldn't have built Multics without the invention of the photocopier.)”

5. E5 Fernando "Corby" Corbató (1926-2019) MIT CSAIL · 13 July 2019

   “After CTSS Corbató led a time-sharing effort called Multics, which directly inspired operating systems like Linux and laid the foundation for many aspects of modern computing.”

6. E6 Multics - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 6 March 2001

   “Originally it was a cooperative project led by MIT (Project MAC with Fernando Corbató) along with General Electric and Bell Labs.”

7. E7 Origins and History of Unix, 1969-1995 catb.org (Eric S. Raymond, The Art of Unix Programming) · 1 January 1995

   “Its father was the pioneering Multics project, an attempt to create a feature-packed ‘information utility’ that would gracefully support interactive timesharing of mainframe computers by large communities of users.”

8. E8 The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System* AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal (reprinted; author Dennis M. Ritchie) · October 1984

   “Thus it might seem that stream-splicing in Multics was the direct precursor of Unix pipes, as Multics IO redirection certainly was for its Unix version. In fact I do not think this is true, or is true only in a weak sense.”

E1 and E6 say Corbató led the Multics project. They also show it was a joint effort of MIT Project MAC, Bell Labs and GE, so "developed" overstates his personal role. E7 describes Multics as Unix's "father". E8, by Unix co-creator Dennis Ritchie, says Multics IO redirection was a precursor of its Unix version but doubts that Multics stream-splicing was the direct precursor of Unix pipes, or thinks it was so only in a weak sense. E5 says Multics directly inspired operating systems like Linux, but no item explicitly states the Unix-to-Linux link. That makes the chain broadly supported as influence rather than direct descent, which fits the criteria for mostly true.