Jon Postel
Jon Postel: A Pioneer in Internet Governance
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Full Name and Common Aliases
Jon Postel was born as John Martin Borden Postel on August 6, 1943, in South Dakota. He is often referred to simply as Jon Postel.
Birth and Death Dates
Birth: August 6, 1943
Death: October 16, 1998
Nationality and Profession(s)
Jon Postel was an American computer scientist who served as the custodian of the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) from its inception in 1983 until his death in 1998. He worked at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI).
Early Life and Background
Postel grew up in a family that encouraged his interest in science and technology. He earned a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1966, followed by a Master's degree in computer science in 1974. During his academic years, Postel worked as a programmer at various research institutions.
Major Accomplishments
Postel's contributions to the development and maintenance of the Internet cannot be overstated. Some of his key accomplishments include:
Developing the first Domain Name System (DNS) client software
Serving as the official caretaker of the DNS root zone from 1983 until his death in 1998
Creating and managing various internet protocols, such as the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
Contributing to the development of the Internet's routing system
Notable Works or Actions
Postel was an active participant in the early days of the Internet. He collaborated with other pioneers, including Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, on various projects aimed at building a global network. Some notable works include:
RFC 768: User Datagram Protocol (1980)
RFC 791: Internet Protocol (1981)
* RFC 1034: Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities (1987)
Impact and Legacy
Jon Postel's work laid the foundation for modern internet infrastructure. He played a critical role in establishing the global network we rely on today.
Postel's legacy extends beyond his technical contributions. He was a pioneer in promoting collaboration, innovation, and open standards in the development of the Internet.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Jon Postel is widely remembered as a true pioneer in internet governance. His commitment to creating an inclusive, collaborative environment for developers has inspired countless individuals working on the Internet's infrastructure today.
His contributions are a testament to the power of collaboration and open standards in shaping modern technology.
Quotes by Jon Postel
Years ago when you'd go to a working group most of the people in the working group would be from universities. Now most of the people are from companies who are building internet products and care what the standards turn out to be.
But as soon as we got that higher speed access to the home there's going to be a tremendous crunch on the backbones for a much higher speed bandwidth. People really ought to be planning for that.
That was clearly surprising, interesting – a very interesting milestone was when you can pick up a magazine and read an article about some sort of computer related thing and they mention the word internet without explaining it.
If you’re in charge of managing domain name space you should treat everybody who asks for a registration the same. Whatever that is – whether it’s nice or ugly or whatever – just be fair, treat them all the same.
I think that audio and video over the internet in the sense of teleconferencing and telephone calls. Maybe we’ll actually have picture phone through your work station.
In a chemistry class there was a guy sitting in front of me doing what looked like a jigsaw puzzle or some really weird kind of thing. He told me he was writing a computer program.
A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there.
