Vinton Cerf

Vint Cerf is a living legend in the tech world.

In 2004, with Robert Kahn, he received the Alan M. Turing Award, the highest professional honor in computing, in recognition of their visionary work and leadership in the development of the Internet.

Other honors, again with Robert Kahn, include the US National Medal of Technology, the Japan Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He was the founding president of the Internet Society and served as chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers from 2000 to 2007.

Before joining Google in 2005, Cerf was a senior vice presidentat MCI and a vice president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. He began his career at IBM and UCLA.

He joined the faculty of Stanford University where he co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and network architecture of the Internet.

From 1976 to 1982, he was a principal scientist at DARPA, where he managed the Internet and packet communications research programs. He joined MCI in 1982, where he helped develop the commercial MCI Mail service.

In 2015 Cerf co-founded (with Mei Lin Fung), and is currently chairman of, People-Centered Internet (PCI). On January 16, 2013, US President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint Cerf to the National Science Board.

Cerf is also among the 15 members of governing council of International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.

In June 2016, his work with NASA led to Delay-tolerant networking being installed on the International Space Station with an aim towards an Interplanetary Internet.

Cerf has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the IEEE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the International Engineering Consortium.