PAB,
We are all deeply saddened by the news below of Jon passing
on.
Robert
-- Robert Shaw <robert.shaw@itu.int> Head a.i., IED/Advisor, Global Information Infrastructure International Telecommunication Union <http://www.itu.int> Place des Nations, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland-- >To: ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com >From: Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu> >Subject: IP: Remembrance/postel >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Sender: owner-ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com >Precedence: list >Reply-To: farber@cis.upenn.edu > > >I, and others I fear, have spent a sleepless night after hearing of the >death of Jon Postel last night. This morning there was a note in my mail >box from Vint Cerf that said many of the things I feel at this time. I >asked him for permission to send on which he granted. > >I also remember Jon. I was his primary thesis advisor along with Jerry >Estrin and I remember with fond memories the months spent closely working >with Jon while his eager mind developed the ideas in back of what was a >pioneering thesis that founded the area of protocol verification. Since I >was at UC Irvine and Jon at UCLA we used to meet in the morning prior to >my ride to UCI at a Pancake House in Santa Monica for breakfast and the >hard work of developing a thesis. I gained a great respect for Jon then >and 10 pounds of weight. > >I will miss him greatly. Jon was my second Ph.D. student. The first, >Philip Merlin, also died way before his time. > >Dave > >________________________________________________________________________ > > October 17, 1998 > >I REMEMBER IANA > >Vint Cerf > >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 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 Prof. 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 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 is >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.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jan 30 2000 - 03:22:37 PST