Peter Kirstein, Father of the European Internet, Is Dead At 86

Peter Kirstein, a British computer scientist who was widely recognized as the father of the European internet, died on Wednesday at the age of 86. According to his daughter Sara Lynn Black, the cause was a brain tumor. The New York Times reports: Professor Kirstein fashioned his pivotal role in computer networking the old-fashioned way: through human connections. In 1982, his collegial ties to American scientists working in the nascent field of computer networks led him to adopt their standards in his own London research lab. Those standards were called Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, which enable different computer networks to share information. Professor Kirstein embraced TCP/IP despite competing protocols being put forward at the time by international standards groups.

"Peter was the internet's great champion in Europe," said Vinton G. Cerf, an American internet pioneer who was a developer of TCP/IP and a colleague and friend of Professor Kirstein's. "With skill and finesse, he resisted enormous pressure to adopt alternatives." Professor Kirstein was so avid a fan of computer networking that he gave Queen Elizabeth II her own email address, HME2. In 1976, while christening a telecommunications research center in Malvern, England, the queen became one of the first heads of state to send an email.

So, he's the Euro's Al Gore

[Powercntrl]

Did he make an environmental documentary, too?

Great guy

[110010001000]

One of the first people to bring connectivity to ARPANET in Europe. Without these guys the EU might have chosen a different incompatible path.

Re:Great guy

[Shimbo]

One of the first people to bring connectivity to ARPANET in Europe. Without these guys the EU might have chosen a different incompatible path.

I have really no idea why this got modded down to -1. If you were around in the 80's in the UK, where IP was actually banned from the academic network, you would understand better. There was a prevalent view that networking should use proper standards, e.g. like X.400 for mail, and none of this 'back of an envelope' IP nonsense.

  Alternative histories are always difficult to evaluate, because with hindsight, how things turned out almost always looks obvious. European internet adoption could well have been slower if there hadn't been people like Peter pushing it harder.

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[cardpuncher]

There was a prevalent view that networking should use proper standards

Well, that might have been because at the time there was no real support for anything other than English in most of the application protocols, there was no common standard even for things like e-mail attachments and there was no commercial basis for public data services (joining the Internet involved hiring a point-to-point line and finding some government-funded institution that would let you join the party) and not even lip service was paid to ideas like quality of service. European PTTs at least envisage

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[DNS-and-BIND]

Gonna have to update that old hoary copypasta dude. Brexit is going down January 31. You going to any of the parties?

Re:Revisionism

[imidan]

TCP and IP was developed by BBN (Bolt, Beranek, and Newman in 1974... not 1982... 8 years later).

Nobody said TCP/IP was developed in 1982. You misread that sentence in the summary.

No British anyone was the European anything (Britain is not part of Europe) and TCP/IP was well established before then.

British people are not confined to Britain. They have the ability to go out into the world and affect other people in other places.

The NSFNet, linking supercomputer centers in the real world (the United States) was up and running 1982-1987 and again did not rely on old British people to do squat.

Sure. ARPANET was up and running even earlier than that, and Kirstein's lab was one of the first international connections to it. Note that he wasn't particularly old in 1973, when that happened.

This guy LITERALLY DID NOTHING.

Vint Cerf seems to feel differently. I find that I trust his judgment more than yours on this topic. I'm not sure why the story upset you so much, but maybe chill out.

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[Shaitan]

"Vint Cerf seems to feel differently. I find that I trust his judgment more than yours on this topic."

Agreed. Though being that he was actual father of the Internet himself I'm a bit miffed at him being downplayed here as some guy who was kind of involved somehow. But you can only be so miffed if he isn't. He likely made his comments without knowledge of how he would be portrayed but will have too much class to defend himself.

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[Shaitan]

"Britain is not part of Europe"

Britain is part of Europe. That is simple and objective fact. It may no longer be part of the EU but it has always been part of Europe. That's just geology.

Europe was not the harbinger of Internet connectivity but he didn't do nothing, he championed Europe joining the Internet and was instrumental in the same. Or so says Vinton G. Cerf, the father of the Internet.

I know it is frustrating that the Europeans like to revise history to downplay American accomplishments but the ma

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[Shaitan]

Britain is an island that is part of Europe, which is a continent that includes many islands. It isn't part of mainland Europe but it is part of Europe. It isn't a matter of a hill to die on, it isn't like there is room for an opinion here it is a simple emotionless fact with no room for ambiguity. Liquid water is wet, Britain is part of Europe.

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[account_deleted]

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Wait what? Europe has an internet?

[Way Smarter Than You]

Who did they get it from? US, China, or through a Russian gas pipe?

He taught Computer Communications in 1980 at UCL

[infodude]

...but IIRC it was mostly the OSI 7-layer model, with a side dish of TCP/IP.