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'{{Short description|American computer scientist and Internet pioneer (born 1938)}} {{Redirect|Bob Kahn|the comic artist born "Robert Kahn", see|Bob Kane}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Robert Kahn | birth_name = Robert Elliot Kahn | image = Bob Kahn.jpg | caption = Kahn in Geneva, May 2013 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|12|23}} | birth_place = [[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | field = [[Telecommunications]], [[Computer network|networking]] | workplaces = [[Bell Labs]]<br />[[MIT]]<br />[[BBN Technologies|BBN]] <br />[[DARPA]]<br />[[Corporation for National Research Initiatives]] | alma_mater = [[City College of New York]] ([[B. E. E.|BEE]]) <br />[[Princeton University]] ([[M. A.|MA]], [[PhD]]) | thesis_title = Some problems in the sampling and modulation of signals | thesis_year = 1964 | doctoral_advisor = [[Bede Liu]] | doctoral_students = | known_for = [[TCP/IP]] | awards = {{hlist|[[Marconi Prize]] (1994)|National Medal of Tech (1997)|[[National Medal of Technology and Innovation]] (1997)|[[IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal]] (1997)|[[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] (2001)|[[Prince of Asturias Award]] (2002)|[[Turing Award]] (2004)|[[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (2005)|[[Computer History Museum]] Fellow (2006)|[[Japan Prize]] (2008)|[[Harold Pender Award]] (2010)|[[Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering]] (2013)|[[IEEE Medal of Honor]] (2024)}} | footnotes = | spouse = Patrice Ann Lyons }} '''Robert Elliot Kahn''' (born December 23, 1938) is an American [[electrical engineer]] who, along with [[Vint Cerf]], first proposed the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP) and the [[Internet Protocol]] (IP), the fundamental communication protocols at the heart of the Internet. In 2004, Kahn won the [[Turing Award]] with [[Vint Cerf]] for their work on TCP/IP.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert E Kahn - A.M. Turing Award Laureate |url=https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/kahn_4598637.cfm |website=amturing.acm.org}}</ref> ==Early life and education== Robert Elliot Kahn was born in December 1938 in New York to parents Beatrice Pauline (née Tashker) and Lawrence Kahn in an [[Ashkenazi Jewish]] family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Tekla S. |date=April 20, 2024 |title=Robert Kahn: The Great Interconnector |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/bob-kahn-2667754905 |work=IEEE Spectrum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewishrecon.org/resource/leaders-technology-and-also-jewish |title=Leaders in Technology, and Also Jewish &#124; Jewish Reconstructionist Community |access-date=March 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052110/http://www.jewishrecon.org/resource/leaders-technology-and-also-jewish |archive-date=March 20, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewoftheweek.net/2012/02/15/jew-of-the-week-bob-kahn/|title=Jew of the Week: Bob Kahn - Jew of the Week|website=www.jewoftheweek.net|date=February 15, 2012 }}</ref><ref name=archsig1>[http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/Oral_History/102657973.05.01.acc.pdf Oral History of Robert Kahn]{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707221317/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/Oral_History/102657973.05.01.acc.pdf |date=July 7, 2010 }}</ref><ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_a87AAAAMAAJ&q=%22KAHN,+ROBERT+ELLIOT,+federal+government+information+processing+executive%22&dq=%22KAHN,+ROBERT+ELLIOT,+federal+government+information+processing+executive%22 Who's who in Frontiers of Science and Technology]''</ref><ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/30/classified/paid-notice-deaths-kahn-lawrence.html Paid Notice: Deaths Kahn, Lawrence]" - ''New York Times'' (April 30, 1999). Retrieved on July 24, 2013.</ref> Through his father, he is related to futurist [[Herman Kahn]]. After receiving a [[Bachelor of Engineering|B.E.E.]] degree in [[electrical engineering]] from the [[City College of New York]] in 1960, Kahn went on to [[Princeton University]] where he earned a [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] in 1962 and [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in 1964, both in electrical engineering. At Princeton, he was advised by [[Bede Liu]] and completed a doctoral dissertation titled "Some problems in the sampling and modulation of signals."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bede Liu |url=https://dof.princeton.edu/about/clerk-faculty/emeritus/bede-liu|access-date=September 6, 2021|website=Dean of the Faculty |archive-date=September 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906051335/https://dof.princeton.edu/about/clerk-faculty/emeritus/bede-liu|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kahn|first=Robert E.|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/1533905|title=Some problems in the sampling and modulation of signals|date=1964|language=en |via=Princeton University Library Catalog |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625095005/https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/1533905 |archive-date= June 25, 2021 }}</ref> == Career == He first worked at [[BBN Technologies|Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.]], where he was the principal designer of the [[ARPANET]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hafner |first1=Katie |url=http://archive.org/details/wherewizardsstay00haf_vgj |title=Where wizards stay up late: the origins of the Internet |last2=Lyon |first2=Matthew |date=1996 |publisher=New York : Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-81201-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wherewizardsstay00haf_vgj/page/116/mode/2up?q=kahn 116, 149]}}</ref><ref name="Pelkey6.1b">{{Cite book |last=Pelkey |first=James L. |title=Entrepreneurial Capitalism and Innovation: A History of Computer Communications 1968–1988 |chapter=6.1 The Communications Subnet: BBN 1969 |quote=Kahn, the principal architect |chapter-url=https://historyofcomputercommunications.info/section/6.1/The-Communications-Subnet-BBN-1969/}}</ref> In the fall of 1972, he demonstrated the ARPANET by connecting 20 different computers at the [[International Conference on Computer Communications]] (ICCC), "the watershed event that made people suddenly realize that packet switching was a real technology."<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://purl.umn.edu/107387|title=Oral history interview with Robert E. Kahn|date=April 24, 1990|last1=Kahn|first1=Robert E. |website=University Digital Conservancy |publisher=Charles Babbage Institute |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929134804/https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107387 |archive-date= September 29, 2023 }}</ref> In 1972, he joined the [[Information Processing Techniques Office]] (IPTO) within [[DARPA]]. He then helped develop the TCP/IP protocols for connecting diverse computer networks. After he became director of IPTO, he started the United States government's billion dollar [[Strategic Computing Initiative]], the largest computer research and development program ever undertaken by the U.S. federal government.<ref name="Reston">{{cite web |title=Robert E. Kahn |url=https://www.cnri.reston.va.us/bios/kahn.html |website=Corporation for National Research Initiatives |access-date=April 29, 2021}}</ref> After thirteen years with DARPA, Kahn left to found the [[Corporation for National Research Initiatives]] (CNRI) in 1986, and {{as of|2022|lc=y}} remains its chairman, CEO and president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnri.reston.va.us/about_cnri.html|title=About CNRI|publisher=CNRI|date= February 2022|access-date=June 11, 2022}}</ref> ==The Internet== While working on the [[SATNET]] satellite [[packet (information technology)|packet]] network project, he came up with the initial ideas for what later became the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP), which was intended as a replacement for an earlier network protocol, [[Network Control Protocol (ARPANET)|NCP]], used in the ARPANET. TCP played a major role in forming the basis of [[internetworking]], which would allow computers and networks all over the world to communicate with each other, regardless of what hardware or software the computers on each network used. To reach this goal, TCP was designed to have the following features: * Small sub-sections of the whole network would be able to talk to each other through a specialized computer that only forwarded packets (first called a gateway, and now called a [[router (computing)|router]]). * No portion of the network would be the single point of failure, or would be able to control the whole network. * Each piece of information sent through the network would be given a [[sequence number]], to ensure that they were dealt with in the right order at the destination computer, and to detect the loss of any of them. * A computer which sent information to another computer would know that it was successfully received when the destination computer sent back a special packet, called an ''acknowledgement'' ([[packet (information technology)|ACK]]), for that particular piece of information. * If information sent from one computer to another was lost, the information would be ''retransmitted'', after the loss was detected by a ''timeout'', which would recognize that the expected acknowledgement had not been received. * Each piece of information sent through the network would be accompanied by a [[checksum]], calculated by the original sender, and checked by the ultimate receiver, to ensure that it was not damaged in any way en route. Vint Cerf joined him on the project in the spring of 1973, and together they completed an early version of TCP. Later, the protocol was separated into two separate layers: host-to-host communication would be handled by TCP, with [[Internet Protocol]] (IP) handling internetwork communication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Janet |first1=Abbate |author-link=Janet Abbate |title=Inventing the Internet |date=1999 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-01172-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/inventinginterne00abba/page/130 130] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/inventinginterne00abba }}</ref> The two together are usually referred to as TCP/IP, and form part of the basis for the modern Internet. In 1992 he co-founded with Vint Cerf the [[Internet Society]], to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. ==Awards== In 1981, Bob Kahn was elevated to the grade of [[IEEE]] fellow for original work in packet switching mobile radio telecommunications technology.<ref> {{Cite web| url=https://www.comsoc.org/membership/ieee-fellows/1981| title = IEEE Fellows 1981 &#124; IEEE Communications Society}} </ref> He was elected as a member to the [[National Academy of Engineering]] in 1987 for research contributions in computer networks and packet switching, and for creative management contributions to research efforts in computers and communications. He was elected a Founding Fellow of [[Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence]] in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elected AAAI Fellows |url=https://aaai.org/about-aaai/aaai-awards/the-aaai-fellows-program/elected-aaai-fellows/ |access-date=January 1, 2024 |website=AAAI |language=en-US}}</ref> He was awarded the [[SIGCOMM Award]] in 1993 for "visionary technical contributions and leadership in the development of [[information systems]] technology", and shared the 2004 [[Turing Award]] with Vint Cerf, for "pioneering work on [[internetworking]], including .. the Internet's basic [[communications protocols]] .. and for inspired leadership in networking." [[File:CerfKahnMedalOfFreedom.jpg|thumb|Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn being awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom by President Bush]] He is a recipient of the AFIPS Harry Goode Memorial Award, the Marconi Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Award, the President's Award from ACM, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computer and Communications Award, the [[IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal]], the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the [[ACM Software Systems Award]], the Computerworld/Smithsonian Award, the ASIS Special Award and the Public Service Award from the Computing Research Board. He has twice received the Secretary of Defense Civilian Service Award. He was awarded an honorary degree by the [[University of Pavia]] in 1998. He was awarded the Stibitz-Wilson Award from the [[American Computer & Robotics Museum]] in 1999 for Pioneering the Internet through Major Design and Development Contributor to the Original ARPANET NCP Protocol and Co-Inventor of the Internet's TCP/IP Protocol.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://acrmuseum.org/1999|title = Stibitz-Wilson Awards 1999}}</ref> He is a recipient of the 1997 [[National Medal of Technology]], the 2001 [[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] from the [[National Academy of Engineering]], the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award, and the 2004 [[Turing Award|A. M. Turing Award]] from the Association for Computing Machinery.<ref name="turingAward">{{cite web | url=http://awards.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=4598637&srt=all&aw=140&ao=AMTURING&yr=2004 | archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120703015809/http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/kahn_4598637.cfm | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 3, 2012 | title=Robert E Kahn | work=A. M. Turing Award | publisher=ACM | year=2004 | access-date=January 23, 2010 | quote=For pioneering work on internetworking, including the design and implementation of the Internet's basic communications protocols, TCP/IP, and for inspired leadership in networking. }}</ref> Kahn received the 2003 Digital ID World award for the [[Digital identity#Digital object architecture|Digital Object Architecture]] as a significant contribution (technology, policy or social) to the digital identity industry. In 2005 he was awarded the Townsend Harris Medal from the Alumni Association of the City College of New York, the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], and the C & C Prize in Tokyo, Japan. He was inducted into the [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]] in May 2006. He was inducted as a Fellow of the [[Computer History Museum]] in 2006 "for pioneering technical contributions to internetworking and for leadership in the application of networks to scientific research."<ref>{{Cite web |author=CHM |title=Robert Kahn — CHM Fellow Award Winner |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Robert,Kahn/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403184807/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Robert,Kahn/ |archive-date=April 3, 2015 |access-date=March 30, 2015}}[http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Robert,Kahn/] </ref> He was awarded the 2008 [[Japan Prize]] for his work in "Information Communication Theory and Technology" (together with Vinton Cerf). *In 2001, he was inducted as a [[Fellow]] of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://fellows.acm.org/fellow_citation.cfm?id=4598637&srt=alpha&alpha=K | title=Robert E Kahn | work=ACM Fellows | publisher=ACM | year=2001 | access-date=January 23, 2010 | quote=For leadership in the design of the Internet, strategic computing, digital libraries, digital object infrastructure and digital intellectual property protection technology.}}</ref> *Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf were each inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the [[Society for Technical Communication]] (STC) in May 2006. The duo were also awarded with the [[Harold Pender Award]], the highest honor awarded by the [[University of Pennsylvania]] School Engineering and Applied Sciences, in February 2010. He has also served on the board of directors for Qualcomm. In 2012, Kahn was inducted into the [[Internet Hall of Fame]] by the [[Internet Society]].<ref>[http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/year/2012 2012 Inductees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213033309/http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/year/2012 |date=December 13, 2012 }}, [[Internet Hall of Fame]] website. Last accessed April 24, 2012</ref> In 2013, Kahn was one of five Internet and Web pioneers awarded the inaugural [[Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering]].<ref>[http://qeprize.org/internet-and-web-pioneers-win-qeprize/ "2013 Winners Announced"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102085500/http://qeprize.org/internet-and-web-pioneers-win-qeprize/ |date=January 2, 2017 }} Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering</ref> Kahn received the 2024 [[IEEE Medal of Honor]] for "pioneering technical and leadership contributions in packet communication technologies and foundations of the Internet."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert E. Kahn |url=https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/recipient/robert-kahn/ |access-date=December 14, 2023 |website=IEEE Awards |language=en-US}}</ref> ==Honorary degrees== Kahn has received honorary degrees from Princeton University, University of Pavia, ETH Zurich, University of Maryland, George Mason University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Pisa, and an honorary fellowship from University College, London. In 2012, he was also recognized as honorary doctor of [[Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics|Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.ifmo.ru/en/viewnews/2898/Robert_Kahn_will_receive_a_degree_and_a_mantle_of_Honorary_Doctor_of_Science_in_the_University_ITMO.htm|title=Robert Kahn will receive a degree and a mantle of Honorary Doctor of Science in the University ITMO|website=en.ifmo.ru|date=May 14, 2013 }}</ref> ==Articles== * [[Vint Cerf]] & Bob Kahn, ''[[Al Gore]] and the [[Internet]],'' 2000-09-28<ref name=cerfkahn> {{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ |title= Al Gore and the Internet |access-date= August 22, 2008 |author1=Robert Kahn |author2=Vinton Cerf |date =October 2, 2000 |website=[[The Register]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080919035821/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/10/02/net_builders_kahn_cerf_recognise/ |archive-date= September 19, 2008 |url-status= live }} </ref> ==See also== *[[History of the Internet]] *[[International Network Working Group]] *[[List of Internet pioneers]] *[[List of pioneers in computer science]] *[[Paul Baran]] and [[Donald Davies]], independently invented packet-switched networks *[[Protocol Wars]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{commons category|Robert E. Kahn|Bob Kahn}} * {{DBLP |name=Robert E. Kahn}} * [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Robert_Kahn Biography of Kahn] from [[IEEE]] * [http://purl.umn.edu/107387 Oral history interview with Robert E. Kahn], [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Focuses on Kahn's role in the development of computer networking from 1967 through the early 1980s. Beginning with his work at [[BBN Technologies|Bolt Beranek and Newman]] (BBN), Kahn discusses his involvement as the [[ARPANET]] proposal was being written, his decision to become active in its implementation, and his role in the public demonstration of the ARPANET. The interview continues into Kahn's involvement with networking when he moves to IPTO in 1972, where he was responsible for the administrative and technical evolution of the ARPANET, including programs in packet radio, the development of a new network protocol (TCP/IP), and the switch to TCP/IP to connect multiple networks. * [http://livinginternet.com/i/ii_kahn.htm Bio of Robert E. Kahn] from the Living Internet. * [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4809641 "Morning Edition" interview (NPR)] * [http://pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/mp4/redir/http://distribution.nerdtv.net/video/ntv012/ntv012.mp4 "Nerd TV" interview (with Robert X. Cringley)] - Requires [[QuickTime]] ([https://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/transcripts/012.html transcript]) * [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4989933629762859961 Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing], documentary ca. 1972 about the [[ARPANET]]. Includes footage of Robert E. Kahn. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070303030954/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/103006-bob.html A short history of Bob (story/slideshow) in computing, from Bob Kahn to Bob Metcalfe to Microsoft Bob and Alice & Bob] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081219124325/http://archive.computerhistory.org/lectures/an_eveninig_with_robert_kahn.lecture.2007.01.09.wmv "An Evening with Robert Kahn in conversation with Ed Feigenbaum"] - Requires [[Windows Media Video|WMV]] player *[http://www.c-span.org/video/?188446-1/qa-robert-kahn C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Kahn, August 14, 2005] {{s-start}} {{s-ach}} {{s-bef|before=[[Tadahiro Sekimoto]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal]]|years=1997<br />with [[Vint Cerf]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Richard Blahut]]}} {{s-end}} {{Timelines of computing}} {{Turing award}} {{Charles Stark Draper Prize}} {{IEEE Medal of Honor Laureates 2001–2025}} {{Japan Prize}} {{Internet Hall of Fame}} {{Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Bob}} [[Category:American computer scientists]] [[Category:American software engineers]] [[Category:1938 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:IEEE Medal of Honor recipients]] [[Category:Internet pioneers]] [[Category:2001 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]] [[Category:Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence]] [[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]] [[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:National Medal of Technology recipients]] [[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]] [[Category:Turing Award laureates]] [[Category:Draper Prize winners]] [[Category:MIT School of Engineering faculty]] [[Category:City College of New York alumni]] [[Category:ITMO University]] [[Category:Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni]] [[Category:Jewish American scientists]] [[Category:20th-century American engineers]] [[Category:21st-century American engineers]] [[Category:20th-century American scientists]] [[Category:21st-century American scientists]] [[Category:Center for a New American Security]] [[Category:The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science laureates]]'