IEEE Milestone Online Events

Vint Cerf of Google, Bob Metcalfe of The University of Texas at Austin, Mei Lin Fung

May 17, 3:00 PM – May 20, 4:00 PM        

Event Organizer: IEEE History Committee; People-Centered Internet

Three events celebrating six IEEE Milestones: Alto personal computer, Laser Printer, Ethernet, TCP/Internet, the IEEE 802 Standards Committee, and the Birth of Google with its PageRank Algorithm. Both Vint Cerf and Bob Metcalfe will speak at all three events.

Fri, May 17, 3-5pm PT (22:00-00:00 UTC) – The Office of the Future: 3 IEEE Milestones Honoring SRI and Its Xerox PARC Heritage
Register for online event at https://ieeetv.ieee.org/live-events/office_of_the_future. This event will include the dedication of 3 IEEE Milestones: (1) the Alto personal computer, (2) the Laser Printer, and (3) Ethernet. Speakers will include Vint Cerf, Bob Metcalfe, former PARC engineers John Shoch and Ronald Rider, SRI CEO David Parekh, IEEE President Tom Coughlin, and IEEE History Committee Vice Chair Brian Berg.

Sun, May 19, 12 Noon-5pm PT (19:00-00:00 UTC) – A Celebration of 50 Years of the Internet
Register for online event at https://ieeetv.ieee.org/live-events/i50. Speakers will include Vint Cerf, Bob Metcalfe, IEEE President Tom Coughlin, Mei Lin Fung, and many others as decribed here.

Mon, May 20, 1-4pm PT (20:00-23:00 UTC) – IEEE Milestone Celebration: TCP, 802 Standards, and Google
Register for online event at https://ieeetv.ieee.org/live-events/milestone-tcp-802-Google. This event will include the dedication of 3 IEEE Milestones: (1) the 1974 TCP paper which laid the foundation for the Internet, (2) the IEEE 802 Standards Committee, and (3) the PageRank Algorithm and Birth of Google. Speakers will include Vint Cerf, Bob Metcalfe, Mei Lin Fung, a team of distinguished researchers and scientists from Google, technologists from the IEEE 802 Standards Committee, Internet Society Managing Director Sally Wentworth, People-Centered Internet Executive Chair Jascha Stein, IEEE Foundation Executive Director Karen Galuchie, IEEE Region 6 Director-Elect Joseph Wei, IEEE-USA President-Elect Timothy Lee, and IEEE History Committee Vice Chair Brian Berg.


IEEE Milestone Online Events 2About the speaker,  Vint Cerf of Google

In late 1973, Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn submitted their paper A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Communications scientific journal. Published 50 years ago in May 1974, the paper described the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) that supported the interconnection of multiple packet-switched networks to form an internet. These were split later into TCP and the Internet Protocol (IP). In 1983, TCP and IP together became the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for use with the ARPANET, ARPA Packet Radio Network, and the ARPA Packet Satellite Network, thus forming the Internet. Specifically, on January 1, 1983, DARPA required that TCP/IP replace Network Control Protocol (NCP) as the transport layer protocol of all connected machines on the ARPANET. TCP/IP and UDP/IP became the core protocols of the future global Internet, which now links about 5.3 billion people and many billions more devices, many of which enable access to millions of applications of the World Wide Web (WWW) that rides atop the Internet.

Cerf and Kahn have both received many awards and recognitions, including IEEE Medal of Honor (2023 and 2024), the US National Medal of Technology “for their joint development of the TCP/IP protocol” (1997; from President Clinton), the US Presidential Medal of Freedom “for designing the language that led to the internet” (2005; from President George W. Bush), the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1997), IEEE Fellow (Kahn: 1981; Cerf: 1988), the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2013; from the UK), the Japan Prize (2008), the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering (2001), the ACM Turing Award (2004), ACM Fellow (Cerf: 1994; Kahn: 2001), Computer History Museum Fellow (Cerf: 2000; Kahn: 2006), the Prince of Asturias Award (2002; from Spain), the Harold Pender Award (2010), and the Marconi Prize (Kahn: 1994; Cerf: 1998; from Italy).


IEEE Milestone Online Events 3About the speaker, Bob Metcalfe of The University of Texas at Austin

Robert “Bob” Metcalfe co-invented Ethernet with David Boggs while working at Xerox PARC in 1973, and he is often called the “Father” of Ethernet. The Alto personal computer with its GUI, the Laser Printer, and Ethernet were all PARC inventions. Together they formed what was called “the Office of the Future,” and indeed that future is today. Bob went on to co-found 3Com, a multibillion-dollar networking company that was purchased by Hewlett-Packard. After serving as Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The University of Texas at Austin in 2011-2021, he is now Emeritus Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

In recognition of his work on Ethernet, Bob was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1997 and the Internet Hall of Fame 2013. His many awards include the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award (1980), IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1988), IEEE Medal of Honor (1995), the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President George W. Bush (2003), Marconi Prize (2003), Computer History Museum Fellow (2008), and the ACM Turing Award (2023).


IEEE Milestone Online Events 4About the speaker, Mei Lin Fung of People-Centered Internet

Mei Lin Fung is Chair and Co-Founder (with Vint Cerf) of the People-Centered Internet (PCI). Through PCI she works to ensure that people are at the center of the Internet as digital interdependence reshapes societies and economies.  A key focus of her work is to promote resilient communities financed with digital assets, using data so that communities can connect and members can thrive. Mei Lin draws on her early training as a Financial Analyst at Intel, in Operations Research at Shell, and her extensive experience in developing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) approaches, to bring systematic evidence-based analysis to the complex supply and demand for information.

Mei Lin also worked as socio-technical lead for Federal Health Futures at the DoD where she realized that the financial sustainability of Community Health Centers in the US can be greatly enhanced by applying the lessons learned within tech corporations on managing operations to improve effective delivery of desired outcomes. Through PCI she has built alliances with the IEEE, World Economic Forum, World Bank, UN and others at the country and regional level based on people-centered ecosystems.