"DR. JON B. POSTEL
(Internet Pioneer).
"A Net Builder Who Loved Invention, Not Profit".

Jon Postel (1943 - 1998).

Biography

Dr. B. Jonathan Postel, to many cybernauts, represented the heart and soul of the Internet . Jon many called him, was the Director of ISI's Computer Networks Division. The division has 70 staff members working on about 10 projects, including the NSF sponsored Routing Arbiter, and DARPA sponsored projects in the areas of Active Networks, Middleware, Security, Distributed Systems, and High Speed Networking.

He received his B.S. and M.S. in Engineering, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA, in 1966, 1968, and 1974 respectively. Jon was a member of the ACM and the Internet Society (and before his death served on the Internet Society Board of Trustees).

At UCLA he was involved in the beginnings of the ARPANET and the development of the Network Measurement Center.

He worked in the areas of computer communication protocols, especially at the operating system level and the application level.

He was interested in multi-machine internetwork applications, multimedia conferencing and electronic mail, very large networks, and very high-speed communications.

Jon was also involved in several Internet infrastructure activities including the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the RFC Editor, the US Domain, and the Los Nettos network (a regional network for the greater Los Angeles area). The Internet Pioneer Postel died on October 16^th,1998 at the age 55years.

The Internet Society mourns the death of its friend and colleague, Dr. Jon B. Postel. He is greatly missed.