Severin Hacker is a Swiss-American computer scientist and the co-founder and CTO of Duolingo, the world's most popular language-learning platform. Born in Zug, Switzerland, Hacker developed an early interest in computer science through video games. In 2009, he co-founded Duolingo with Luis von Ahn, with the goal of making language education accessible and 100% free for anyone with an internet connection.