Radia Perlman

Radia Perlman
Born 1951 (age 6465)
Portsmouth, Virginia, US
Nationality United States
Fields Computer Science
Institutions Intel
Alma mater MIT
Thesis Network layer protocols with Byzantine robustness (1988)
Doctoral advisor David D. Clark
Known for Network and security protocols; computer books

Radia Joy Perlman (born January 1, 1951) is a software designer and network engineer. She is most famous for her invention of the spanning-tree protocol (STP), which is fundamental to the operation of network bridges, while working for Digital Equipment Corporation. She also made large contributions to many other areas of network design and standardization, such as link-state protocols, including TRILL, which she invented to correct some of the shortcomings of spanning-trees.

She is currently employed by EMC Corporation.

Early research

As an undergraduate at MIT she undertook a UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity), in lieu of course units, within the LOGO Lab at the (then) MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Working under the supervision of Seymour Papert, she developed a child-friendly version of the educational robotics language LOGO, called TORTIS ("Toddler's Own Recursive Turtle Interpreter System"). During research performed in 19746, young children—the youngest aged 3½ years, programmed a LOGO educational robot called a Turtle. Radia has been described as a pioneer of teaching young children computer programming.[1]

Perlman obtained a Bachelor's, Master's in Mathematics, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT in 1988.[2] Her doctoral thesis at MIT addressed the issue of routing in the presence of malicious network failures.[3]

Life and career

She is most famous for her invention of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), which is fundamental to the operation of network bridges, while working for Digital Equipment Corporation. She also made large contributions to many other areas of network design and standardization, such as link-state protocols, including TRILL, which she invented to correct some of the shortcomings of spanning-trees. She is sometimes referred to as the "Mother of the Internet",[4] a title which she dislikes.[5]

Her work transformed the Ethernet protocol from using a few nodes over a limited distance, into something able to create large networks.[5]

Perlman is the author of one textbook on networking and coauthor of one textbook on network security. She holds more than 100 issued patents.[6]

Awards

Bibliography

References

  1. Leonel Morgado; et al. (2006). "Radia Perlman – A pioneer of young children computer programming". Current Developments in Technology-Assisted Education: 1903–1908. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.99.8166Freely accessible.
  2. "Radia Perlman". MIT. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  3. Radia J. Perlman (1988). "Network Layer Protocols with Byzantine Robustness (Ph.D. thesis)". MIT. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  4. Bob Brown (2006-05-05). "Mother of the Internet Radia Perlman speaks out". Network World. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  5. 1 2 Tom Foremski (2011-04-21). "Don't call Radia Mother of the Internet". Silicon Valley Watcher. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  6. "Patents by Inventor Radia J. Perlman". Justia Patents. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  7. "Internet Hall of Fame Pioneer Radia Perlman". Internet Society.
  8. "2010 SIGCOM Lifetime Achievement Award given to Radia Perlman". SIGCOMM.
  9. Fuller, Brian (18 October 2005). "Perlman, Samuelson, Tsao, honored for innovations". EETimes. UBM Electronics. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  10. "Inventors of The Year", Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA). Retrieved 2 July 2013.
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