IEEE Awards Booklet - 2023 - 22

2023 IEEE MEDALS
IEEE Medal of Honor
Sponsored by the IEEE Foundation
Vinton G. Cerf
For co-creating the Internet architecture and providing sustained leadership in its
phenomenal growth in becoming society's critical infrastructure
Widely known as one of the " Fathers of the Internet, " Vinton
(Vint) G. Cerf is the co-designer with Robert E. Kahn of the
TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. Cerf's
tireless commitment to the Internet's evolution, improvement,
oversight, and evangelism throughout its history has had an
indelible impact on the world. It is largely due to his efforts that
we even have the Internet-and it is largely due to the Internet
that we have changed the way we live today. The Internet has
enabled a large part of the world to receive instant access to news,
brought us closer to friends and loved ones, and made it easier
to purchase products online. It's improved access to education,
scientific discourse, made smartphones useful, and opened the
door for social media, cloud computing, video conferencing, and
streaming. Cerf saw early on the importance of decentralized
control, with no one company or government completely in
charge of the Internet.
In the 1980s, Cerf served as vice president of MCI Digital Information
Services, where he led the engineering of MCI Mail,
the fi rst commercial e-mail service to be connected to the Internet.
In the 1990s, Cerf, Kahn and others co-founded the Internet
Society in aid of standards and policy development for the
Internet. In December, 1994, People magazine identifi ed Cerf as
one of that year's " 25 Most Intriguing People. "
In the 2000s, he promoted the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profi t that helps
to ensure a stable, secure, and interoperable global Internet and
served as its chairman from 2000-2007. Cerf has worked continuously
speaking around the world to evangelize the Internet's
growth and adoption in service of the public good. Cerf was appointed
by President Obama to serve a six-year term on the National
Science Board beginning in May 2012.
Cerf has received many accolades for his work on the Internet,
including the US National Medal of Technology, the US Presidential
Medal of Freedom, US National Medal of Technology,
the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the Japan Prize, the
Charles Stark Draper award, the ACM Turing Award, and more.
His personal interests include fi ne wine, gourmet cooking and
science fi ction. Cerf and his wife, Sigrid, were married in 1966
and have two sons, David and Bennett.
An IEEE Life Fellow and HKN Eminent Member, Cerf is vice
president and chief Internet evangelist, Google, Reston, Virginia,
USA.
Scope: For an exceptional contribution or an extraordinary career in the IEEE fields of interest.
22 | 2023 IEEE AWARDS BOOKLET

IEEE Awards Booklet - 2023

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