Forward from the main IETF mailing list. Includes comments from Craig Partridge and Vint Cerf.
---rsk ----- Forwarded message from Jari Arkko <jari.ar...@piuha.net> ----- > From: Jari Arkko <jari.ar...@piuha.net> > Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2016 11:02:13 +0000 > To: IETF <i...@ietf.org> > Subject: Ray Tomlinson > > I received sad news about Ray Tomlinson?s death from Craig Partridge > and Vint Cerf yesterday. I wanted to send what they wrote to the IETF > list as well: > > > I just learned that Ray Tomlinson died this morning. > > > > Ray Tomlinson had been at BBN since 1967. He?s best known for > > inventing the concept of sending email over a computer network and > > choosing the @ sign as the way to split the mailbox name from the host > > name. But that?s a fraction of his amazing contributions to our field. > > Ray was one of a four person team that created TENEX, the first operating > > system to support virtual memory using paging. He wrote one of the > > first implementations of TCP and, when he found data being duplicated > > in the received stream, devised methods to ensure that sequence numbers > > were not duplicated that remain fundamental to TCP/IP implementations > > today. He worked on the first object-oriented distributed system and > > early multimedia email systems. And I?m sure I?m forgetting at least > > half a dozen other ways Ray made our world better. > > > > Craig > > > I knew and worked with Ray Tomlinson during the development of > > the ARPANET and its host protocols and benefited, as have billions, > > from his seminal work on networked electronic email. More important, > > from my personal perspective, was his work with Bill Plummer on the > > first PDP-10 TENEX implementation of TCP (and later TCP/IP). In 1975, he > > discovered that the TCP as specified in December 1974 had flaws that led > > it to fail to detect duplicate packets and, together with Yogen Dalal, > > developed the three-way handshake and initial sequence number selection > > method to solve this problem. As Craig Partridge summarizes, Ray was a > > long-time and creative contributor to the Internet, operating systems, > > and many other highly practical applications in the computer science > > and communications domains. He was a self-effacing and humble man and > > extraordinary performer in our online world. I will miss his thoughtful, > > low-key and always helpful counsel. > > > > vint > > Jari Arkko > ----- End forwarded message -----
