Vinton G. Cerf

Internet Cofounder and Developer

Vinton Cerf, one of the most celebrated technical architects

of the last century, is Senior Vice President for Technology

Strategy at MCI. In 1973 while working at Stanford

University with support from DARPA (U.S. Department of

Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency) and in collaboration

with Robert E. Kahn, Cerf developed the TCP/IP,

the computer networking protocol that set the transmission

standard for data communications on the Internet. In December

1997, President Bill Clinton presented the U.S. National

Medal of Technology to Cerf and Kahn for founding and developing

the Internet. In the course of his career, Cerf has

received countless awards and commendations including

the Marconi Fellowship, the Charles Stark Draper award of

the National Academy of Engineering, the Prince of Asturias

award for science and technology, and the Alexander Graham

Bell Medal.

Cerf has been quoted as saying he was motivated in part

by his significant hearing impairment to help devise and create

the world’s ultimate communications medium, the Internet.

On the Education Corner-For Kids Sake, which is featured

on Vint’s Web site CerfsU (www.mci.com/cerfsup), Vint puts

it this way, “I think one of the greatest gifts a parent can give

a child is confidence in himself or herself. This may come in

many forms—encouragement for constructive interests and

creative work or demonstrating confidence in a child’s judgment

by allowing a child to make his or her choices in matters

appropriate to age level and apparent maturity. . . . Above

all else, kids need to know they are loved. Don’t hesitate to

tell them that warmly and often.”