Robert Kahn

Robert (Bob) Kahn, born 23 December 1938, is an American internet pioneer, engineer and computer scientist who, together with Vint Cerf, invented the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which make up the fundamental architecture at the heart of the Internet.

After receiving his degree in electrical engineering at the City College of New York in 1960, Kahn then completed his PhD at Princeton Univerity in 1964. His first jobs were at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was at Bolt, Berenek and Newman (BBN), however, that he was responsible for the system design of ARPANET, the first packet-switching network.

Kahn’s work at the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) within ARPA and the demonstration of ARPANET in 1972 cemented his place in computer science history. The demo connected several dozen different computers and proved the viability of packet switching. Kahn founded the Corporation for National Research initiatives (CNRI) in 1986. He has been its Chairman, CEO and President since 1986.

He has received numerous awards and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Computer History Museum amongst others. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Internet Hall of Fame.