Final answer:
Linus Torvalds combined his kernel with GNU tools to create Linux, which disrupted the proprietary operating system market and offered cost-effective and configurable options for users and companies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The person who combined his kernel with the GNU tools, compilers, and libraries to form Linux is Linus Torvalds. Linus Torvalds, a Finnish graduate student, wrote an operating system kernel in C as a free alternative to the expensive UNIX systems. His creation rapidly gained popularity for its open-source nature, allowing programmers to configure the kernel as needed. This configurability and free distribution led to many OS distributions and uses in embedded systems. Linux challenged the proprietary systems of that time, reducing the costs for companies like IBM and Dell, and received wide adoption for file servers and internet routers, even challenging proprietary supercomputers with clusters of networked Linux-running PCs utilized by organizations like NASA.