Yes Lamport started and maintains TLA+. I found his hyperbook to be a good introduction to TLA+ and PlusCal. http://lamport.azurewebsites.net/tla/hyperbook.html

I don't see the relevance on knowing Leslie Lamport to learn about TLA+ - what is the matter? One thing has nothing to do with the other... Would be valuable to learn that he dresses like a clown or like indiana jones in conferences and my preference on learning TLA?

"Would be valuable to learn that he dresses like a clown or like indiana jones in conferences and my preference on learning TLA?" Of course not. That question is too simple, and you know it! ;)

Could you also ask a question that completely gives a counter example? Could you think of a question that does help learning TLA+ because you know something about Leslie Lamport? Have it as a fun exercise for 10 minutes, or not, it might stretch your mind a bit since you claim that you can't see the relevance.

Here is why I like to know about authors who found a field:

Knowing the author may give an idea or context about TLA+. While not strictly necessary, it may be interesting background information that people don't know about. I presume that Lamport has one of the most, if not the most authentic reason for why he created TLA+ in the first place. Reading that reason may motivate people more to learn more about TLA+, or demotivate people more -- but for the right reasons!

Furthermore, discussions can be associative: gabuzome gave book recommendations written by Lamport. I didn't know Lamport wrote one (I know very little about Lamport) and since he now recommended it I'm happy to know that the founder of TLA+ also writes books worthy enough of a recommendation. It personally gives me more confidence to read it and take a crack at it.

Plus his website has a bunch of good resources linked from it.

http://www.lamport.org

Affect my decision to learn TLA? Probably not. Entertaining? Interesting? Something I would want to know? Yes.