Vint Cerf is often regarded as the ‘father of the Internet.’ But did you know that the Internet has a mother, too?
Let me tell you about Radia Perlman. Without her Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), the Internet would be a whole lot buggier and slower.
Scroll down to read her story.
About Radia Perlman
Radia Perlman was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1951. Growing up, she had no problems with math and science. This is not strange considering that both her parents worked as engineers: her father worked on radar, and her mother worked as a computer programmer.
However, it took a programming class in high school to get her interested in computers. From there, things developed quickly and positively: during her bachelor’s at MIT, she developed a child-friendly version of the programming language LOGO that allowed children as young as 3 years old to program their own robots.
Her contribution to the Internet
Radia Perlman is best known for her invention of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) while working for Digital Equipment Corporation in 1985.
STP allows a network to deliver data reliably by making it possible to design the network with redundant links. This setup provides automatic backup paths if an active link fails and turns off the links that are not part of the tree. This leaves a single, active path between any pair of network nodes.
More recently, she invented the TRILL protocol to correct some of the shortcomings of spanning trees, allowing Ethernet to make optimal use of bandwidth.
Before STP, only computers that belonged to the same network could communicate with each other. Radia’s “magic box” made it possible to communicate between networks as well. In that sense, it is a backbone for a reliable and functioning internet.
Inventing it was kind of a funny story
She invented it, literally, on a Friday and spent the next Monday and Tuesday documenting it. Then, she spent the rest of the week writing a poem about her ‘tree,’ which she called an “Algorhyme.”
Implementation turned out to be so simple that engineers would not need to ask a single question.
“The kind of diversity that I thing really matters isn’t skin shade or body shape but different ways of thinking.” – Radia Perlman
But wait, there’s more…
Like Marian Croak, Radia Perlman has more than 200 patents in her name. About 40 stem from her time at Sun Microsystems in the late 1990s.
Beyond STP and TRILL, Perlman has contributed significantly to network security. She has worked on innovative concepts in cryptography and network robustness, influencing the development of secure communication protocols.
Her work on the design of security systems helped lay the foundation for the safe exchange of data on the Internet.
So, the next time you wonder how you can surf the web without errors, thank Radia Perlman.
What’s with the quote?
Radia Perlman has spoken openly about the lack of diversity in tech and the importance of creating more inclusive environments. Despite her groundbreaking contributions, she often encountered subtle biases and societal expectations that made it harder for women to be taken seriously in technical roles.
She has also often highlighted that diversity isn’t just a matter of fairness. According to her it is crucial for innovation. Diverse teams bring different perspectives, which can lead to better problem-solving and more creative solutions.
She has argued that the tech industry misses out on great ideas and talent when it lacks diversity, reinforcing the notion that inclusivity is essential for technological progress.
Her legacy
In addition to the 200+ patents, there are many children’s books and about 20 books on various STEM-related topics. Perlman has also taught courses at the University of Washington, Harvard University, MIT, and Texas A&M and has been the keynote speaker at events all over the world.
She was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for contributions to Internet routing and bridging protocols. She was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014 and into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016.
She also received lifetime achievement awards from USENIX in 2006 and from the Association for Computing Machinery’s SIGCOMM in 2010.
As of 2022, she was a Fellow at Dell Technologies.
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