Peter T. Kirstein

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Peter Kirstein

Born

Peter Thomas Kirschstein

20 June 1933

Berlin, Germany

Died

8 January 2020

(aged 86)

, England

Education

Alma mater

(BA)

(MS,

PhD)

Awards

(2015)

(1999)

(2003)

Scientific career

Institutions

(1957)

Doctoral

students

Website

Peter Thomas Kirstein

(

né

Kirschstein

; 20 June 1933 – 8 January 2020) was a

British

who played a role in the creation of the Internet.

He made the first

connection on the

in 1973, by

providing a link to

, and was instrumental in

defining and implementing

alongside

and

Kirstein is often recognized as the "father of the European Internet".

Education and early life

[

]

Kirstein was born on 20 June 1933 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Eleanor

(Jacobsohn) and Walter Kirschstein.

His parents were dentists, and his

father was awarded the

during WWI. His family was Jewish and his

mother had British citizenship from being born in London, so, fearing for

their safety in

the family immigrated to the

1937.

He was educated at

received a

degree from

in 1954, an MSc and PhD in

from

(in 1955 and 1957,

respectively)

and a

(DSc) in engineering from the

in 1970.

[

]

Career and research

[

]

He was a member of the staff at

from 1959 to 1963. He did research for

from 1963 to 1967. He knew

since 1967.

Kirstein was a professor at the

(ICS) from 1970 to 1973. After that, he joined the faculty at the

in 1973, serving as the first head of the computer

science department from 1980 to 1994.

He supervised

Kirstein set up

's first

official email message in 1976.

Internet development

[

]

Building on the work of

at the

in the 1960s,

in 1973 Kirstein's research

group at

became one of only the two international connections on the

, alongside

Norway (

and

UCL thereafter provided a gateway between the ARPANET and

which was the first

for

Research led by

and

and later DARPA resulted in the formulation of

the

(TCP),

with its

specification written by Cerf with

and Carl

Sunshine in December 1974. The following year, testing began through concurrent implementations at Stanford,

University College London and

The ARPANET connection to UCL later grew into the trans-Atlantic

. A two-

way, followed by a three-way internetworking experiment linking UCL, via SATNET, with nodes in the ARPANET, and with a

mobile vehicle in

took place in 1977.

Kirstein and his team members participated from the outset of the

meetings, beginning in

March 1977.

His research group at UCL played a significant role in the very earliest experimental work on what

became the

In 1978, Kirstein co-authored with Vint Cerf one of the most significant early technical

papers on the

concept.

He chaired the International Cooperation Board (ICB), formed by Cerf in

1979, to coordinate activities to develop packet satellite research.

UCL adopted TCP/IP in November 1982, ahead

of the ARPANET, becoming one of the first nodes on the Internet.

In early 1983, Kirstein chaired the International Collaboration Board, which involved six

countries, served on the

Networking Panel of the NATO Science Committee (serving as chair in 2001), and served on Advisory Committees for the

Australian Research Council, the Canadian Department of Communications, the German GMD, and the Indian Education and

Research Network (ERNET) Project.

He led the Silk Project, which provides satellite-based Internet access to the

Newly Independent States in the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia.

Awards and honours

[

]

Kirstein was appointed

(CBE) for his work on the Internet.

He was also

(FREng), a Fellow of the

, an Honorary Foreign Member of the

, and a Distinguished Fellow of the

. He received the

in 1999 for "contributions to the practical understanding of

large-scale networks through the deployment of international testbeds", and the

in 2003, as well as

various other awards for his contributions to the development of the Internet internationally. He was also elected a

member of the

in 2009 for contributions to computer networking and for leadership in

bringing the Internet to Europe.

In 2012 Kirstein was inducted into the

by the

In 2015 he was awarded the

prestigious

Personal life

[

]

Kirstein died from a brain tumour on the morning of 8 January 2020 while in his home. Shortly after his death, Steve

Hailes, Head of Department for UCL Computer Science, wrote about him:

"Peter was very widely recognised as a pioneer of the Internet and has many honours to his name [...] Much of

this was undoubtedly down to an incredibly logical mind, coupled with a level of interest, vision and

determination that saw him retire only late last year at the age of 86. [...] Peter was also deeply empathetic

and sensitive: he was both gentleman and a gentle man, he was a source of encouragement and sage advice, he

was persuasive, open-minded, fair and never afraid to learn something new or to admit that he didn't

know."