Leonard Kleinrock

Leonard Kleinrock is Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at UCLA. He is considered a father of the Internet, having developed the mathematical theory of data networks, the technology underpinning the Internet as an MIT graduate student in 1962. His UCLA Host computer became the first node of the Internet in September 1969 from which he directed the transmission of the first Internet message. Kleinrock received the 2007 National Medal of Science “For fundamental contributions to the mathematical theory of modern data networks …”, the highest honor for achievement in science bestowed by the President of the United States.

Leonard Kleinrock received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1963. He has served as Professor of Computer Science at UCLA since then, and was department Chairman from 1991-1995. He received a BEE degree (fully at night school while working daytime as an engineer) from CCNY in 1957 and an MS degree from MIT in 1959. He has received eight honorary degrees, has published over 250 papers, authored six books, and has supervised the research for over 50 Ph.D. students on a wide array of subjects, including packet switching networks, packet radio networks, local area networks, broadband networks, queueing theory, congestion control, gigabit networks, nomadic computing, intelligent software agents, performance evaluation, peer-to-peer networks and blockchain performance.

Dr. Kleinrock is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is an IEEE Fellow, an ACM Fellow, an INFORMS Fellow, a CHM Fellow, an IEC Fellow, an inaugural member of the Internet Hall of Fame, a Guggenheim Fellow, and an Eminent member of Eta Kappa Nu. Among his many honors, he is the recipient of the National Medal of Science, the Ericsson Prize, the NAE Draper Prize, the Marconi Prize, the Dan David Prize, the Okawa Prize, the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award, the ORSA Lanchester Prize, the ACM SIGCOMM Award, the IEEE Communications Society Leonard G. Abraham Prize Paper Award, the IEEE CS Harry H. Goode Award and the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal.