Robert Elliot Kahn, popularly known as Bob Kahn, is yet another prominent figure who shaped the history of information technology. Along with Vint Cerf, Kahn designed the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol. These two together form the fundamental communication protocols of the Internet.
For this invention, and other contributions made to the field, Kahn and Cerf shared the title of the ‘fathers of the Internet’.
In 1972, Kahn started working at the Information Processing Techniques Office in the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
He successfully demonstrated ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) by connecting 20 different computers at the International Communication Conference. ARPANET is one of the earliest forms of the modern day Internet.
Kahn thus played a major role in forming the basis of open networking. It means, helping computers and networks all over the world to communicate with each other, regardless of the hardware and software used in each of them.
