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Jon Postel

Also Known As Jonathan B. Postel · Jonathan Postel · Jonathan Bruce Postel
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Jonathan Bruce Postel 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 editing the Request for Comments document series, for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority until his death; he was referred to during his lifetime as the god of the Internet for his comprehensive influence. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Birth Year
1943 1
Birth Date
1943-08-06 2
Death Year
1998 1
Death Date
1998-10-16 2
Award
EFF Award 1
Award
Jonathan B. Postel Service Award 1
Award
Internet Hall of Fame 1
Award
SIGCOMM Award 1
FAQs

What did it mean that Jon Postel was the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority?

He was the person who kept the Internet's registers of protocols, identifiers and addresses.

In the early Internet, someone had to keep track of the protocols, identifiers, networks, addresses and names that all the connected networks used. Vint Cerf's 1998 remembrance says that someone was Postel. He began as the person keeping track of hosts and protocol identifiers, which Cerf says he volunteered to do as the Numbers Czar, and he later held that work as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority once the Internet was in place. He also edited the Request for Comments series from the time Steve Crocker invented it, and he was custodian of the .US domain.
Connections

Associated With

SMTP, Systems

In Field

Computer Networking, Fields
Source Wikipedia: Jon Postel

Invented

SMTP, Systems
Source Programming Language Database (PLDB): SMTP
In the Other Atlases

Nationality

United States

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Sources
1. Wikidata: Jon Postel
Wikidata Q92623, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Jon Postel
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    October 16, 1998
  • In Field: Computer Networking, Lead paragraph
View the Source
Programming Language Database (PLDB): SMTP
Programming Language Database (PLDB)Invented: SMTP, Page lead
Quote, Invented: SMTP, Page lead
created in 1982 by Jon Postel
View the Source
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