All,
There will be those on this list that knew Peter, either first-hand, or
through hearing him speak at an event. As the email below says far
better than I could, he was instrumental in connecting UCL, and
eventually the UK, to the Internet, and even when I started working in
R&E networking his work was still evident.
Unfortunately he passed away at home yesterday morning as a result of a
brain cancer.
Rob
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Peter Kirstein
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2020 08:15:51 +0000
From: Stephen Hailes <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
It is with great sadness that I have to have to announce the death of
Professor Peter Kirstein CBE FREng DFBCS FIET FInstP, an Internet
pioneer and the founding head of the Department of Computer Science at
UCL. Peter died yesterday morning (8th January) as a consequence of the
brain cancer with which he had been diagnosed in the latter part of last
year.
Peter has come to be known as the father of the European Internet, both
because he was instrumental in establishing the first connection to the
ARPANET outside the US, and because of the role of Peter and his
research group in developing TCP/IP. Peter continued throughout his life
to be important in the development of network security protocols, video
conferencing, multicast, directory services, secure e-mail, certificate
authorities, and IPv6. He was instrumental in delivering effective
Internet connectivity to the Caucasus and Central Asia through what was
state-of-the art satellite technology as project manager of the SILK
project.
Peter won many plaudits throughout his life – to name but a few he was a
recipient of the Marconi prize and the SIGCOMM award and was inducted
into the Internet Hall of Fame as a pioneer as part of its first intake.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Peter continued to be interested in
and to work in new areas of networking, developing an interest in IoT
and being an advocate for the Handle System developed by Bob Kahn as
late as last year. Peter retired in November 2019, at the age of 86. He
lived life to the full – he broke his pelvis skiing, only last year. He
was a gentleman, innately kind and supportive, and someone to whom all
were worthy of equal consideration, from the most junior of staff to the
most senior. He retained a passionate interest in the Department of
Computer Science at UCL to the very end of his life, and will be sorely
missed by those of us that had the good fortune to know him, work with
him, and call him friend.
Peter is survived by his wife Gwen, daughters Lynn and Claire and their
children.
For those that are interested in early Internet developments, there is
an opportunity to hear Peter speak about these in an interview with Jim
Boulton filmed last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfzbAzGVSyE.
There is also an obituary in the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/technology/peter-kirstein-dead.html.
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