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IP: VB:NewsFlash: Internet Founder Postel Is Dead
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 19:46:39 -0400
********************************************************************** Welcome to VB:NewsFlash Brought to you by virtual.basex http://virtual.basex.com ********************************************************************** Jon Postel, the director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Author, died yesterday. Dr. Postel was heavily involved with the beginnings of the Internet (then ARPANET) and played an integral part in the creation of almost all the major Internet protocols. Often referred to by such terms as "a God" and "the gold standard" by people who have worked with him, he had recently been immersed in the controversial attempts to move control of the Internet out of the hands of the government. Postal received his B.S. in Engineering in 1966, his M.S. in 1968, and his Ph.D. in 1974, all from UCLA. He worked for Mitre, Keydata, and with Doug Engelbart's group at SRI, and joined the USC Information Sciences Institute in 1976. He was the first individual member of the Internet Society. He continued to serve as a trustee of the Internet Society until his death. He was the custodian of the .US domain, and a founder of the Los Nettos Internet service. Following are comments made by two close associates of Postel, as published on the IP mailing list earlier today.
From Vint Cerf:
"Jon, our beloved IANA, is gone. Even as I write these words I cannot quite grasp this stark fact. We had almost lost him once before in 1991. Surely we knew he was at risk as are we all. But he had been our rock, the foundation on which our every web search and email was built, always there to mediate the random dispute, to remind us when our documentation did not do justice to its subject, to make difficult decisions with apparent ease, and to consult when careful consideration was needed. We will survive our loss and we will remember. He has left a monumental legacy for all Internauts to contemplate. Steadfast service for decades, moving when others seemed paralyzed, always finding the right course in a complex minefield of technical and sometimes political obstacles. "If Jon were here, I am sure he would urge us not to mourn his passing but to celebrate his life and his contributions. He would remind us that there is still much work to be done and that we now have the responsibility and the opportunity to do our part. I doubt that anyone could possibly duplicate his record, but it stands as a measure of one man's astonishing contribution to a community he knew and loved."
From Dave Farber:
"I, and others, I fear, have spent a sleepless night after hearing of the death of Jon Postel last night. "I also remember Jon. I was his primary thesis advisor along with Jerry Estrin and I remember with fond memories the months spent closely working with Jon while his eager mind developed the ideas in back of what was a pioneering thesis that founded the area of protocol verification. "I will miss him greatly. Jon was my second Ph.D. student." ========================== The following links detail Mr. Postel's history and his recent involvement in the controversies over the Internet's future [These sites are not part of The Basex Group's site, and Basex has no control over their content or availability. Some of the longer URLs may require cutting and pasting into your browser, depending on your mail reader.] http://www.thestandard.net/articles/article_display/0,1449,1022,00.html http://guide.infoseek.com/Content?arn=BW1271-19981012&qt=%22jon+Postel%22&s v=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486 http://go2.guardian.co.uk:80/theweb/907779639-domain.html http://www.cbsawards.com/dvorakawards/1997.html http://www.pretext.com/mar98/features/story4.htm http://www.thestandard.net/thenetwork/person_display/0,1407,1360,00.html http://www.techweb.com/internet/profile/jpostel/interview http://www.internetwk.com/news/news0209-2.htm http://guide.infoseek.com/Content?arn=a2691reuff-19981002&qt=%22jon+Postel% 22&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486 http://www.isi.edu/~postel/bio.html http://www.isi.edu/~postel/ Written by Greg A. Spira, Analyst Copyright 1998 The Basex Group, Inc. All rights reserved. All data, opinions, and projections are based on Basex' judgment at the time of publication and are subject to change.
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- IP: VB:NewsFlash: Internet Founder Postel Is Dead Dave Farber (Oct 17)