| Sharing this sad news from Stephen Hailes.
It is with great sadness that I have to have to announce the death of
Professor Peter Kirstein CBE FREng DFBCS FIET FInstP, an Internet pioneer
and the founding head of the Department of Computer Science at UCL. Peter
died yesterday morning (8th January) as a consequence of the brain cancer
with which he had been diagnosed in the latter part of last year.
Peter has come to be known as the father of the European Internet, both
because he was instrumental in establishing the first connection to the
ARPANET outside the US, and because of the role of Peter and his research
group in developing TCP/IP. Peter continued throughout his life to be
important in the development of network security protocols, video
conferencing, multicast, directory services, secure e-mail, certificate
authorities, and IPv6. He was instrumental in delivering effective Internet
connectivity to the Caucasus and Central Asia through what was state-of-the
art satellite technology as project manager of the SILK project.
Peter won many plaudits throughout his life – to name but a few he was a
recipient of the Marconi prize and the SIGCOMM award and was inducted into
the Internet Hall of Fame as a pioneer as part of its first intake. Never
one to rest on his laurels, Peter continued to be interested in and to work
in new areas of networking, developing an interest in IoT and being an
advocate for the Handle System developed by Bob Kahn as late as last year.
Peter retired in November 2019, at the age of 86. He lived life to the full
– he broke his pelvis skiing, only last year. He was a gentleman, innately
kind and supportive, and someone to whom all were worthy of equal
consideration, from the most junior of staff to the most senior. He
retained a passionate interest in the Department of Computer Science at UCL
to the very end of his life, and will be sorely missed by those of us that
had the good fortune to know him, work with him, and call him friend.
Peter is survived by his wife Gwen, daughters Lynn and Claire and their
children.
For those that are interested in early Internet developments, there is an
opportunity to hear Peter speak about these in an interview with Jim
Boulton filmed last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfzbAzGVSyE.
There is also an obituary in the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/technology/peter-kirstein-dead.html.
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