Jon Postel
American computer scientist (1943–1998) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jonathan Bruce Postel (/pəˈstɛl/; August 6, 1943 – October 16, 1998) was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death.
Jon Postel | |
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Born | (1943-08-06)August 6, 1943 Altadena, California, U.S. |
Died | October 16, 1998(1998-10-16) (aged 55) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BS, MS, PhD) |
Known for | Request for Comment Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Postel's Law |
Awards | ACM SIGCOMM Award (1997),[1] ITU Silver Medal (1998),[2] ISOC Jonathan B. Postel Service Award (1999, posthumous)[3] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Computer science |
Doctoral advisor | Dave Farber |
During his lifetime he was referred to as the "god of the Internet"[4][5] for his comprehensive influence; Postel himself noted that this "compliment" came with a barb, the suggestion that he should be replaced by a "professional," and responded with typical self-effacing matter-of-factness: "Of course, there isn’t any 'God of the Internet.' The Internet works because a lot of people cooperate to do things together."[6]