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Wikipedia 🌐 Jon Postel
Wikipedia 🌐 Jon Postel
Associations
Associations
Steve Michael Hotz (born 1963) (Steve Hotz was a top research assistant for Postel at ISI ; Steve Hotz went on to have a leading role with Genuity Incorporated )
Rodney Lance Joffe (born 1954) ( Rodney Joffe invited Jon Postel onto the board of Genuity Incorporated in 1997 )
Employment
Genuity Incorporated (1997)
Born August 6, 1943 , Altadena, California, U.S.
Died October 16, 1998 (aged 55) , Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Alma mater UCLA
Known for
Scientific career
Fields Computer science
Influenced Tim Berners-Lee[1]
Jonathan Bruce Postel (/pəˈstɛl/; August 6, 1943 – October 16, 1998) was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death. In his lifetime he was known as the "god[2] of the Internet" for his comprehensive influence on the medium, although Postel himself noted that this "compliment" came with a barb — with the article that introduced it also suggesting that he should be replaced by a "Professional."
The Internet Society's Postel Award is named in his honor, as is the Postel Center at Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California. His obituary was written by Vint Cerf and published as RFC 2468 in remembrance of Postel and his work. In 2012, Postel was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame by the Internet Society.[3] The Channel Islands' Domain Registry building was named after him in early 2016.[4][5]
Career
Career
Postel attended Van Nuys High School,[6] and then UCLA where he earned his B.S. (1966) as well as his M.S. (1968) in Engineering. He then went on to complete his Ph.D. there in Computer Science in 1974, with Dave Farber as his thesis advisor.
Map of the Internet, created by Jon Postel in 1982
Postel started work at UCLA on 23 December 1969 as a Postgraduate Research Engineer (I) where he was involved in early work on the ARPANET. He was involved in the development of the Internet domain system and, at his instigation, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed a second set of protocols for handling data between networks, which is now known as Internet Protocol (IP).[7] Together with Cerf and Steve Crocker, Postel worked on implementing most of the ARPANET protocols.[8] Cerf would later become one of the principal designers of the TCP/IP standard,[8] which works because of the sentence known as Postel's Law.[9]
Postel worked with ARPANET until 24 August 1973 when he left to join MITRE Corporation. He assisted with Network Information Center which was being set up at SRI by Elizabeth Feinler. In March 1977, he joined the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California as a research scientist.[10]
Postel was the RFC Editor from 1969 until his death, and wrote and edited many important RFCs, including RFC 791, RFC 792 and RFC 793, which define the basic protocols of the Internet protocol suite, and RFC 2223, Instructions to RFC Authors. Between 1982 and 1984 Postel co-authored the RFCs which became the foundation of today's DNS (RFC 819, RFC 881, RFC 882 and RFC 920) which were joined in 1995 by RFC 1591 which he also co-wrote. In total, he wrote or co-authored more than 200 RFCs.
Postel served on the Internet Architecture Board and its predecessors for many years. He was the Director of the names and number assignment clearinghouse, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), from its inception. He was the first member of the Internet Society, and was on its Board of Trustees. He was the original and long-time .us Top-Level Domain administrator. He also managed the Los Nettos Network.
All of the above were part-time activities he assumed in conjunction with his primary position as Director of the Computer Networks Division, Division 7, of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California.[11]
DNS Root Authority test, U.S. response
On January 28, 1998, Postel, as a test, emailed eight of the twelve operators of Internet's regional root nameservers on his own authority and instructed them to reconfigure their servers,[12] changing the root zone server from then SAIC subsidiary Network Solutions (NSI)'s A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET (198.41.0.4) to IANA's DNSROOT.IANA.ORG (198.32.1.98). The operators complied with Postel's instructions, thus dividing control of Internet naming between the non-government operators with IANA and the 4 remaining U.S. Government roots at NASA, DoD, and BRL with NSI. Though usage of the Internet was not interrupted, he soon received orders from senior government officials to undo this change,[13] which he did.[14] Within a week, the US NTIA issued A proposal to improve technical management of Internet names and addresses, including changes to authority over the Internet DNS root zone,[15] which ultimately, and controversially,[16] increased U.S. control.[17]
Legacy
Legacy
On October 16, 1998, Postel died of complications from heart surgery in Los Angeles, nine months after the DNS Root Authority incident. He was recovering from a surgery to replace a leaking heart valve.[18]
The significance of Jon Postel's contributions to building the Internet, both technical and personal, were such that a memorial recollection of his life forms part of the core technical literature sequence of the Internet in the form of RFC 2468 "I Remember IANA", written by Vinton Cerf.
Another tribute "Working with Jon Tribute delivered at UCLA, October 30, 1998" RFC2441 , was written by D. Cohen.
Postel's law
Main article: Postel's law
Perhaps his most famous legacy is from RFC 760, which includes a robustness principle often called Postel's law: "an implementation should be conservative in its sending behavior, and liberal in its receiving behavior" (reworded in RFC 1122 as "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send").
See also
See also
Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing (1972 documentary w/Postel cameo)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/10/18/jon-postel-internet-pioneer-dies-at-55-after-heart-surgery/75b75d28-95c1-4a6b-9a0b-2b7f08533fbc/
1998-10-18-the-washington-post-jon-postel-internet-pioneer-55-dies-after-heart-surgery.pdf
JON POSTEL, INTERNET PIONEER, DIES AT 55 AFTER HEART SURGERY
Jon Postel, an Internet pioneer who wielded enormous influence managing technical details of the global computer network, died Oct. 16 in Los Angeles of complications from heart surgery. He was 55.
Postel, considered by the Clinton administration to be a crucial player in the future of the Internet, died while recovering from surgery to replace a leaking heart valve, said Vinton Cerf, a senior vice president for MCI Worldcom Inc., who worked closely with Postel.
Postel's death comes at a critical juncture for the Internet, with the federal government in the midst of largely turning over management of the worldwide network to a nonprofit group that Postel helped organize.
Although Postel was hardly known outside high-tech circles, his role as director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority allowed the Internet to match unique numerical addresses for computers on the global network with its millions of Web addresses.
The British magazine The Economist once dubbed Postel "god" of the Internet.
Earlier this year, Postel drew sharp criticism but demonstrated his influence when he redirected half the Internet's 12 directory-information computers to his own system. He told federal officials afterward he was running a test to see how smoothly such a transition could be made.
A researcher at the University of Maryland at College Park, which controls one of those computers, told The Washington Post: "If Jon asks us to point somewhere else, we'll do it. He is the authority here."
Cerf said Postel underwent a heart-valve replacement in 1991, but the replacement value started to leak about 10 days ago. He was hospitalized for surgery and was recovering when he died.
Cerf said Postel is survived by a brother.
RFC2468
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2468
Network Working Group V. Cerf
Request for Comments: 2468 MCI
Category: Informational October 1998
I REMEMBER IANA
October 17, 1998
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
Remembrance
A long time ago, in a network, far far away, a great adventure took
place!
Out of the chaos of new ideas for communication, the experiments, the
tentative designs, and crucible of testing, there emerged a
cornucopia of networks. Beginning with the ARPANET, an endless
stream of networks evolved, and ultimately were interlinked to become
the Internet. Someone had to keep track of all the protocols, the
identifiers, networks and addresses and ultimately the names of all
the things in the networked universe. And someone had to keep track
of all the information that erupted with volcanic force from the
intensity of the debates and discussions and endless invention that
has continued unabated for 30 years. That someone was Jonathan B.
Postel, our Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, friend, engineer,
confidant, leader, icon, and now, first of the giants to depart from
our midst.
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
Cerf Informational [Page 1]
RFC 2468 I REMEMBER IANA October 1998
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.
Jon and I went to the same high school, Van Nuys High, in the San
Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. But we were in different
classes and I really didn't know him then. Our real meeting came at
UCLA when we became a part of a group of graduate students working
for Professor Leonard Kleinrock on the ARPANET project. Steve
Crocker was another of the Van Nuys crowd who was part of the team
and led the development of the first host-host protocols for the
ARPANET. When Steve invented the idea of the Request for Comments
series, Jon became the instant editor. When we needed to keep track
of all the hosts and protocol identifiers, Jon volunteered to be the
Numbers Czar and later the IANA once the Internet was in place.
Jon was a founding member of the Internet Architecture Board and
served continuously from its founding to the present. He was the
FIRST individual member of the Internet Society I know, because he
and Steve Wolff raced to see who could fill out the application forms
and make payment first and Jon won. He served as a trustee of the
Internet Society. He was the custodian of the .US domain, a founder
of the Los Nettos Internet service, and, by the way, managed the
networking research division of USC Information Sciences Institute.
Jon loved the outdoors. I know he used to enjoy backpacking in the
high Sierras around Yosemite. Bearded and sandaled, Jon was our
resident hippie-patriarch at UCLA. He was a private person but fully
capable of engaging photon torpedoes and going to battle stations in
a good engineering argument. And he could be stubborn beyond all
expectation. He could have outwaited the Sphinx in a staring
contest, I think.
Jon inspired loyalty and steadfast devotion among his friends and his
colleagues. For me, he personified the words "selfless service".
For nearly 30 years, Jon has served us all, taken little in return,
indeed sometimes receiving abuse when he should have received our
deepest appreciation. It was particularly gratifying at the last
Internet Society meeting in Geneva to see Jon receive the Silver
Medal of the International Telecommunications Union. It is an award
generally reserved for Heads of State, but I can think of no one more
deserving of global recognition for his contributions.
While it seems almost impossible to avoid feeling an enormous sense
of loss, as if a yawning gap in our networked universe had opened up
and swallowed our friend, I must tell you that I am comforted as I
contemplate what Jon has wrought. He leaves a legacy of edited
documents that tell our collective Internet story, including not only
Cerf Informational [Page 2]
RFC 2468 I REMEMBER IANA October 1998
the technical but also the poetic and whimsical as well. He
completed the incorporation of a successor to his service as IANA and
leaves a lasting legacy of service to the community in that role.
His memory is rich and vibrant and will not fade from our collective
consciousness. "What would Jon have done?", we will think, as we
wrestle in the days ahead with the problems Jon kept so well tamed
for so many years.
There will almost surely be many memorials to Jon's monumental
service to the Internet Community. As current chairman of the
Internet Society, I pledge to establish an award in Jon's name to
recognize long-standing service to the community, the Jonathan B.
Postel Service Award, which will be awarded to Jon posthumously as
its first recipient.
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.
Security Considerations
Security issues are not relevant to this Remembrance.
Author's Address
Vinton G. Cerf
MCI
EMail: vcerf@mci.net
https://www.isi.edu/news/story/2
The announcement was made November 30 by Joseph Bannister, Ph.D., Director of the Computer Networks Division at the University of Southern Californiaís Information Sciences Institute and a longtime collaborator with Internet pioneer Dr. Postel. Bannister has served as interim director of the center since it opened April 20, 1999, six months after Postelís death October 16, 1998.
2000-12-11-usc-news-touch-named-director-of-isi-postel-center.pdf
https://news.usc.edu/6255/Touch-Named-Director-of-ISI-s-Postel-Center/
2000-12-11-usc-news-touch-named-director-of-isi-postel-center-img-1.jpg
See Jon Bruce Postel (born 1943) .
Touch Named Director of ISI’s Postel Center
Touch Named Director of ISI’s Postel Center
DECEMBER 11, 2000
Joseph D. Touch
Joseph D. Touch has been named the director of the Postel Center for Experimental Networking at the School of Engineering’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI). Touch will be responsible for the daily operation and long-range direction of the center. He will set up the center’s laboratory, work with industrial and individual sponsors, chair the scholar selection committees and determine policy and direction. Touch, who has been at ISI since 1992, is a project leader and research assistant professor of computer science. He has also worked at Bellcore, GTE Labs and SEI. His research interests include virtual networks, network architecture, optical networks and protocol performance.
The Postel Center for Experimental Networking was established in 1999 to commemorate Jon Postel’s pioneering contributions to the development of the Internet. Postel, who died in 1998, was the director of ISI’s computer networks division and created the Internet’s address system. For three decades he played a pivotal role in the technical management and administration of the Internet as director of the Assigned Numbers Authority. The center has been endowed by Cisco Systems, Centergate and Sun Microsystems, as well as a number of private individuals. Its mission is to promote Postel’s tradition of applied research in service to the Internet community, including providing facilities, funding and support for distinguished visiting scholars and graduate fellows to collaborate with ISI researchers.
1998 (Oct 18) - Washington Post - JON POSTEL, INTERNET PIONEER, DIES AT 55 AFTER HEART SURGERY
1998 (Oct 18) - Washington Post - JON POSTEL, INTERNET PIONEER, DIES AT 55 AFTER HEART SURGERY
[HN01GN][GDrive]
Jon Postel, an Internet pioneer who wielded enormous influence managing technical details of the global computer network, died Oct. 16 in Los Angeles of complications from heart surgery. He was 55.
Postel, considered by the Clinton administration to be a crucial player in the future of the Internet, died while recovering from surgery to replace a leaking heart valve, said Vinton Cerf, a senior vice president for MCI Worldcom Inc., who worked closely with Postel.
Postel's death comes at a critical juncture for the Internet, with the federal government in the midst of largely turning over management of the worldwide network to a nonprofit group that Postel helped organize.
Although Postel was hardly known outside high-tech circles, his role as director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority allowed the Internet to match unique numerical addresses for computers on the global network with its millions of Web addresses.
The British magazine The Economist once dubbed Postel "god" of the Internet.
Earlier this year, Postel drew sharp criticism but demonstrated his influence when he redirected half the Internet's 12 directory-information computers to his own system. He told federal officials afterward he was running a test to see how smoothly such a transition could be made.
A researcher at the University of Maryland at College Park, which controls one of those computers, told The Washington Post: "If Jon asks us to point somewhere else, we'll do it. He is the authority here."
Cerf said Postel underwent a heart-valve replacement in 1991, but the replacement value started to leak about 10 days ago. He was hospitalized for surgery and was recovering when he died.
Cerf said Postel is survived by a brother.
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