Linux creator Linus Torvalds will find out later if he has won the Millennium Technology Prize and an accompanying cheque for about 1m euros ($1.3m; £800,000) from the Technology Academy of Finland.
He has been nominated for the award in recognition of his creation of the original Linux operating system and his continued work deciding what modifications should be made to its kernel - the code that lets software and hardware work together.
Today variants of the system power much of the world's computer servers, set-top boxes, smartphones, tablets, network routers, PCs and supercomputers.
Ahead of the announcement Mr Torvalds gave a rare interview to the BBC .
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18419231