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INTERNET PIONEERS CERF AND KAHN TO RECEIVE ACM TURING AWARD
Team Developed Architecture for Computers to Communicate
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New York, February 16, 2005 -- ACM,
the Association for Computing Machinery, has named Vinton G. Cerf and Robert
E. Kahn the winners of the 2004 A.M. Turing Award, considered the "Nobel
Prize of Computing," for pioneering work on the design and implementation
of the Internet's basic communications protocols. The Turing Award, first
awarded in 1966, and named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, carries
a $100,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation.
Cerf and Kahn developed TCP/IP, a format and procedure for transmitting data
that enables computers in diverse environments to communicate with each
other. This computer networking protocol, widely used in information
technology for a variety of applications, allows networks to be joined into
a network of networks now known as the Internet.
ACM President David Patterson said the collaboration of Cerf and Kahn in
defining the Internet architecture and its associated protocols represents
a cornerstone of the information technology field. "Their work has enabled
the many rapid and accessible applications on the Internet that we rely on
today, including email, the World Wide Web, Instant Messaging, Peer-to-Peer
transfers, and a wide range of collaboration and conferencing tools. These
developments have helped make IT a critical component across the industrial
world," he said.
"The Turing Award is widely acknowledged as our industry's highest
recognition of the scientists and engineers whose innovations have fueled
the digital revolution," said Intel's David Tennenhouse, Vice President in
the Corporate Technology Group and Director of Research. "This award also
serves to encourage the next generation of technology pioneers to deliver
the ideas and inventions that will continue to drive our industry forward.
As part of its long-standing support for innovation and incubation, Intel is
proud to sponsor this year's Turing Award. As a fellow DARPA alumnus, I am
especially pleased to congratulate this year's winners, who are outstanding
role models, mentors and research collaborators to myself and many others
within the network research community."
Making Networked Computers Communicate
In 1973, Cerf joined Kahn in a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA, now called DARPA) project to link three independent networks into an
integrated "network of networks." They sought to develop an
open-architecture network model for heterogeneous networks to communicate
with each other independent of individual hardware and software
configuration, with sufficient flexibility and end-to-end reliability to
overcome transmission failures and disparity among the participating
networks. Their collaboration led to the realization that a "gateway" (now
known as a router) was needed between each network to accommodate different
interfaces and route packets of data. This meant designating host computers
on a global Internet, for which they introduced the notion of an Internet
Protocol (IP) address.
As a graduate student at the University of California at Los Angeles, Cerf
had contributed to a host-to-host protocol for ARPA's fledgling
packet-switching network known as ARPANET. Kahn, prior to his arrival at
ARPA, led the architectural development of the ARPANET packet switches while
at Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), and had showcased the ARPANET in 1972, at
the first International Conference on Computer Communications. ARPANET had
already connected some 40 different computers and demonstrated the world's
first networked email application.
In May 1974, they published a paper describing a new method of communication
called transmission-control
protocol (TCP) to route messages or packets of data. Like an envelope
containing a letter, TCP broke serial streams of information into pieces,
enclosed these pieces in envelopes called "datagrams" marked with
standardized "to and from" addresses, and passed them through the underlying
network to deliver them to host computers. Only the host computers would
"open" the envelope and read the contents.
This networking arrangement allowed for a three-way "handshake" that
introduced distant and different computers to each other and confirmed their
readiness to communicate in a virtual space. In 1978, Cerf and several
colleagues split the original protocol into two parts, with TCP responsible
for controlling and tracking the flow of data packets ("letters"), and the
Internet Protocol (IP) responsible for addressing and forwarding individual
packets ("envelopes"). The new protocol, TCP/IP, has since become the
standard for all Internet communications.
Background: Vinton G. Cerf
Dr. Cerf, Senior Vice President for Technology Strategy at MCI, is
responsible for identifying new technology needed for the development of new
products and services. From 1994 to 2003 he served as Senior Vice President
for Internet Architecture and Engineering. From 1982-86, he was vice
president of MCI Digital Information Services. He joined Kahn as vice
president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) in
1986, conducting research on information infrastructure technologies. Cerf
earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Stanford University
in 1965, and a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in computer science from
UCLA in 1972. An ACM Fellow, he has received the Kilby Award, the IEEE
Alexander Graham Bell Medal, and the Silver Medal of the International
Telecommunications Union among many others. He serves as chairman of the
board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and
was founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-95. In 1994, People
magazine identified him as one of that year's "25 most Intriguing
People."
Background: Robert E. Kahn
Dr. Kahn is Chairman, CEO and President of the Corporation for National
Research Initiatives (CNRI), a not-for-profit organization for research in
the public
interest on strategic development of network-based information technologies,
which he founded in 1986. He worked with BBN on the system design of the
ARPANET before joining ARPA, and prior to that was an Assistant Professor of
Electrical Engineering at MIT, and on the Technical Staff at Bell
Laboratories. Kahn received a B.E.E. from the City College of New York and
earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University in 1962 and 1964
respectively. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a
former member of its Computer Science and Technology Board. An ACM Fellow,
he was a member of the President's Advisory Council on the National
Information Infrastructure, and a recipient of the Harry Goode Memorial
Award and the Marconi Fellowship. Kahn coined the term "National
Information Infrastructure" in the mid-1980s, which later became widely
known as the Information Super Highway.
Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn share a number of awards, including the 1991 ACM
Software System Award, the 2001 Charles Stark Draper Prize from the National
Academy of Engineering, the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award, and the 1997
National Medal of Technology from President Bill Clinton. They are both the
recipients of numerous honorary degrees.
ACM will present the Turing Award at the annual ACM Awards Banquet on June
11, 2005, in San Francisco, CA.
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About the A.M. Turing Award
The A.M. Turing Award was named for Alan M. Turing, the British
mathematician who articulated the mathematical foundation and limits of
computing, and who was a key contributor to the Allied cryptanalysis of the
German Enigma cipher during World War II. Since its inception, the Turing
Award has honored the computer scientists and engineers who created the
systems and underlying theoretical foundations that have propelled the
information technology industry. For additional information, click on http://www.acm.org/awards/taward.html
About ACM
ACM (www.acm.org) is widely recognized as
the premier organization for computing professionals, delivering resources
that advance the computing and IT disciplines, enable professional
development, and promote policies and research that benefit society. ACM
hosts the computing industry's leading Digital Library and Portal to
Computing Literature, and serves its global membership with journals and
magazines, special interest groups, conferences, workshops, electronic
forums, Career Resource Centre and Professional Development Centre.
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