Up for auction “Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf Hand Signed 6X4 Color Photo
ES-6619
Vinton
Gray Cerf ForMemRS (/sɜːrf/; born June 23, 1943) is an American Internet pioneer and is recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet",
sharing this title with TCP/IP co-developer Bob Kahn He has received honorary degrees and awards that
include the National Medal of
Technology, the Turing Award, the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the Marconi Prize and membership in the National Academy of
Engineering. Vinton Gray Cerf was born in New Haven, Connecticut on
June 23, 1943, the son of Muriel (née Gray) and Vinton Thurston Cerf. Cerf attended Van Nuys High School with Jon Postel and Steve Crocker. While in high school, Cerf worked at Rocketdyne on the Apollo program and helped write statistical
analysis software for the non-destructive tests of the F-1 engines. Cerf received a Bachelor of Science degree in
mathematics from Stanford University. After college, Cerf worked at IBM as
a systems engineer supporting QUIKTRAN for two years. Vinton
Gray Cerf was born in New Haven, Connecticut on
June 23, 1943, the son of Muriel (née Gray) and Vinton Thurston Cerf. Cerf attended Van Nuys High School with Jon Postel and Steve Crocker. While in high school, Cerf worked at Rocketdyne on the Apollo program and helped write
statistical analysis software for the non-destructive tests of the F-1 engines. Cerf
received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Stanford University. After college, Cerf worked at IBM as
a systems engineer supporting QUIKTRAN for two years. Cerf
and his wife Sigrid both have hearing deficiencies; they met at a hearing aid agent's
practice in the 1960s, which led him to becoming an advocate for
accessibility. They would later join a Methodist Church. He left IBM to attend
graduate school at UCLA where he earned his M.S. degree
in 1970 and his PhD in 1972. Cerf studied under Professor Gerald Estrin and worked in Professor Leonard Kleinrock's data packet networking group that connected the first two
nodes of the ARPANet, the first node on the
Internet, and "contributed to a host-to-host protocol" for the
ARPANet. While at UCLA, Cerf met Bob Kahn, who was working on the ARPANet system architecture. Cerf wrote the
first TCP protocol with Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine, called Specification
of Internet Transmission Control Program (RFC 675), published in December 1974. Cerf worked as assistant professor at Stanford
University from 1972 to 1976 where he conducted research on packet network
interconnection protocols and co-designed the DoD TCP/IP protocol suite with
Kahn. Cerf and his wife Sigrid both have hearing deficiencies; they met at
a hearing aid agent's practice in the 1960s, which led him
to becoming an advocate for accessibility. They would later join a Methodist
Church. He left IBM to attend graduate school at UCLA where
he earned his M.S. degree in 1970 and his PhD in 1972. Cerf studied under Professor Gerald Estrin and worked in Professor Leonard Kleinrock's data packet networking group that connected the first two
nodes of the ARPANet, the first node on the Internet, and "contributed to a
host-to-host protocol" for the ARPANet. While at UCLA,
Cerf met Bob Kahn, who was working on the ARPANet system architecture. Cerf wrote the first TCP protocol with Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine, called Specification
of Internet Transmission Control Program (RFC 675), published in December 1974. Cerf worked as assistant professor at Stanford
University from 1972 to 1976 where he conducted research on packet network
interconnection protocols and co-designed the DoD TCP/IP protocol suite with
Kahn. Cerf worked at the United States Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 1973 to 1982 and
funded various groups to develop TCP/IP, packet radio (PRNET),
packet satellite (SATNET) and packet security technology. These efforts were
rooted in the needs of the military. In the late 1980s, Cerf moved
to MCI where he helped
develop the first commercial email system (MCI Mail) to be connected to the Internet. Cerf is active in a
number of global humanitarian organizations Cerf is also
known for his sartorial style,
typically appearing in a three-piece suit—a rarity in an industry known for its casual
dress norms. As vice president of MCI Digital Information Services from 1982 to
1986, Cerf led the engineering of MCI Mail, the first commercial email service to be connected
to the Internet. In 1986, he joined Bob Kahn at the Corporation for National
Research Initiatives as its vice president, working with Kahn on Digital
Libraries, Knowledge Robots, and gigabit speed networks. Since 1988 Cerf
lobbied for the privatization of the internet. In 1992, he and Kahn, among
others, founded the Internet Society (ISOC) to provide leadership in
education, policy and standards related to the Internet. Cerf served as the
first president of ISOC. Cerf rejoined MCI during 1994 and served as Senior
Vice President of Technology Strategy. In this role, he helped to guide
corporate strategy development from a technical perspective. Previously, he
served as MCI's senior vice president of Architecture and Technology, leading a
team of architects and engineers to design advanced networking frameworks,
including Internet-based solutions for delivering a combination of data,
information, voice and video services for business and consumer use. During
1997, Cerf joined the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University, a
university for the education of the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Cerf himself is
hard of hearing. He has also served on the university's Board of Associates.