Portal:Internet/Selected biography/8

Photo by Irene Fertik, USC News Service. Copyright 1994, USC

Jonathan Bruce Postel (6 August 1943 – 16 October 1998) made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly in the area of standards. He is principally known for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, and for serving as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority until his death. While studying at UCLA, he was involved in early work on the ARPANET; he later moved to the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California, where he spent the rest of his career. Postel served on the Internet Architecture Board and its predecessors for many years. He was the original and long-time .us Top-Level Domain administrator. He also managed the Los Nettos Network. The Internet Society's Postel Award is named in his honor, as is the Postel Center at Information Sciences Institute.