'Father of Internet' To Speak at Tech

Vinton G. Cerf, the co-designer of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet, will lecture at Virginia Tech on Monday, Dec. 7.

His talk, “The Unfinished Internet,” is from 11 a.m. to noon at the Holtzman Alumni Center’s Alumni Assembly Hall. Sponsored by Virginia Tech’s College of Science, the event is free and open to the public, no tickets needed, though space is limited.

Widely known as a "Father of the Internet," Cerf is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and the basic architecture of the Internet. In 1997, President Clinton recognized their work with the U.S. National Medal of Technology. (He has said, by the way, that Al Gore is, indeed, one of the key figures in the development of the Internet, leading Congress to fund some of its development.)

In 2005, Cerf and Kahn received the highest civilian honor bestowed in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognized that their work on the software code used to transmit data across the Internet put them at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment.

Cerf is now vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google. He is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company.