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Radia Perlman

Also Known As Radia Joy Perlman
Networks

Radia Joy Perlman is an American computer programmer and network engineer who is a major figure in assembling the networks and technology that became the Internet. She is most famous for inventing the Spanning Tree Protocol while working for Digital Equipment Corporation, fundamental to the operation of network bridges and the source of her nickname Mother of the Internet, a title she disliked; she also contributed to link-state routing protocols and later invented the TRILL protocol. Perlman was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019, the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016, and holds more than 100 issued patents. 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
1951 1
Birth Date
1951-12-18 1
Nationality
American 1
Award
Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Awards 2
Award
National Inventors Hall of Fame 2
Award
ACM Fellow 2
Award
IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award 2
Award
Internet Hall of Fame 2
Award
SIGCOMM Award 2
FAQs

What did Radia Perlman's spanning tree algorithm change about Ethernet?

It turned single-wire Ethernet with limited scalability into a protocol that can handle large networks.

According to the Internet Hall of Fame, Radia Perlman designed the spanning tree algorithm that transformed Ethernet from its original limited-scalability, single-wire form, known as CSMA/CD, into a protocol that can handle large networks. She later improved on spanning tree based Ethernet by designing TRILL, short for TRansparent Interconnection of Lots of Links, which lets Ethernet make optimal use of bandwidth.
Connections

Credited

Source Spanning Tree Protocol (Wikipedia)

In Field

Source Wikipedia: Radia Perlman

Invented

Source Spanning Tree Protocol (Wikipedia)

Long-Form Articles

In the Other Atlases

Nationality

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Radia Perlman
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    born December 18, 1951
  • Lead section
    Radia Joy Perlman (; born December 18, 1951) is an American computer programmer and network engineer.
  • In Field: Computer Networking, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
    While working as a consulting engineer at DEC in 1984 she was tasked with developing a straightforward protocol that enabled network bridges to locate loops in a local area network (LAN).
View the Source
2. Wikidata: Radia Perlman
Wikidata Q7558, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Spanning Tree Protocol (Wikipedia)
  • Invented: Spanning Tree Protocol, Lead
    STP is based on an algorithm that was invented by Radia Perlman while she was working for Digital Equipment Corporation.
  • Credited: Spanning Tree Protocol, Lead
    STP is based on an algorithm that was invented by Radia Perlman while she was working for Digital Equipment Corporation.
View the Source
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