Scientist biography worksheet

Lawrence roberts scientist biography lessons for kids In the pantheon of computing pioneers, Larry Roberts stands tall as one of the most influential and consequential figures of the digital age. A brilliant engineer, visionary leader, and tireless innovator, Roberts played a central role in the creation of the modern internet and the transformation of global communication. His groundbreaking work on packet switching, distributed networks, and electronic mail laid the foundation for the vast digital ecosystem we inhabit today. The son of two Yale-educated chemists, Larry grew up in an intellectually stimulating household that nurtured his innate curiosity and love of science. From a young age, he displayed a remarkable aptitude for all things mechanical and electrical, tinkering with radios, building elevators, and even dabbling in chemistry experiments that occasionally landed him in the hospital.

Larry Roberts

Lawrence G. Roberts is best known for his work on the development of the ARPANET, a key predecessor to the internet and the first major network built on the principle of packet switching, and later as a pioneer of commercial packet switching with his roles in Telenet and the widely deployed X protocol.

He was hired as program manager and technical architect for the ARPANET in , and later became director of the main computing office at ARPA, where he oversaw the network’s initial deployment and funded the development of other experimental packet networks. He had previously done ARPA-funded research in computer-to-computer networking at Lincoln Laboratories.

Roberts became a champion of packet switching, which sends data as tiny separate packets instead of the traditional telephone model using dedicated circuits; for connecting computers packets can move data far more efficiently.

Roberts left ARPA in to explore the commercial possibilities of packet-switched networks as founding president of Telenet Inc., which operated its own commercial network and manufactured switching equipment.

Lawrence roberts scientist biography lessons The IT History Society is a c 3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of knowledge about the people, products, and companies that together comprise the field of computing. Since our organization, and its hundreds of members, have worked toward this goal, and we invite you to contribute your own knowledge and memories on this website! Only a small handful of people can truly be called the grandparents of the Internet, but only one of them was also a pioneer in X. He was 81 years old. Larry was also a prolific technical contributor to the ATM Forum, where he developed Available Bit Rate ABR traffic management which, together with the other traffic classes, provided any type of quality of service which was guaranteed.

During that period, he was a major figure in the design and international standardization of the X protocol, which was widely adopted by PTTs worldwide and became the basis of many of the first large-scale packet-switched data services. X remained a major standard until the commercialization of the internet in the early s.

Since Telenet was bought by GTE in , Roberts has been founder and CEO of five network equipment startups: NetExpress, ATM Systems, Caspian Networks, Anagran, and FSA Technologies. He holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from MIT; his thesis advisor was information theory pioneer Claude Shannon.

Roberts has received numerous awards for his work, including the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the Harry Goode Memorial Award from AFIP; the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award; the Interface Conference Award; the Nobel equivalent L.

M. Ericsson Prize; the IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award; the ACM SIGCOMM Award; the IEEE Internet Award; the National Academy of Engineering Draper Award; Spain’s highest award, the Principe de Asturias Award; and the NEC Computer and Communication Award. He was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in Roberts passed away on December 26,