RSS Feed
Jon Postel (1943-1998)
October 2, 1998
Welcome to TNL.net. If you like this content, you may consider subscribing to the RSS feed.On Friday, October 16, 1998, Jon Postel died of complications following heart surgery. Best known for his role as head of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the technical body that oversees the Internet’s Domain Name System and allocated IP addresses, Postel had an overwhelming influence on the way the net has been shaped.
The IANA, RFCs And many other things Mr. Postel did for us
Mr. Postel was the top administrator at the IANA, the overall authority for IP Addresses, Domain Names, and many other parameters, used in the Internet. Recently, there was a lot of controversy surrounding that role, as the IANA was being transferred from a government entity to the private sector.
Mr. Postel was also the official RFC editor. Short for Request for Comments, RFCs are a series of notes about the Internet, started in 1969 (when the Internet was the ARPANET). An RFC can be submitted by anyone. Eventually, if it gains enough interest, it may evolve into an Internet standard. Postel was “responsible for the final editorial review of the documents,” giving him wide power as to the way Internet standards were shaped over the years.
News Coverage
From the mainstream press to the trades, a lot of people have been covering Jon’s death. Here are the links I found:
More Links
Check out those pages for more information on this tragic death and on Jon’s life in general:
- Condolences at the Internet Society
- A 1995 Interview with Jon.
- The ISI has renamed itself the Postel Center as a tribute to Jon.
- DomainHandbook.com has created a Postel memorial too!
- ISI information on condolences and the Jon Postel Service Award
