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Bob Kahn
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Bob Kahn

Co-inventor of TCP/IP and architect of the internet’s design

23 December 1938 United States Verified by our editors
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Age
87 yrs
Birthday in 47 days
Works listed
2
Paper, Identifier system
Honours
4
Most recent 2013
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Bob Kahn is an American engineer who, with Vint Cerf, invented the TCP/IP protocols that are the foundation of the internet. At DARPA he championed the idea of an open network of networks. He shared the 2004 Turing Award and the 2005 Presidential Medal of Freedom with Cerf.

Biography

Education

Kahn studied electrical engineering at the City College of New York and earned his PhD at Princeton in 1964. He worked at Bell Labs and taught at MIT.

ARPANET

At the firm Bolt Beranek and Newman, Kahn helped design the Interface Message Processors that connected computers to the ARPANET. In 1972 he organised its first public demonstration in Washington.

Inventing TCP/IP

Moving to DARPA, Kahn faced the problem of linking the ARPANET with radio and satellite networks. In 1973 he and Vint Cerf designed TCP, with the principle that each network could remain independent while a common protocol carried data between them.

CNRI

In 1986 he founded the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, which worked on digital libraries and the Handle System for identifying digital objects, the basis of DOIs used in academic publishing.

Timeline

  1. 1938

    Born in New York City, United States

  2. 1964

    PhD from Princeton

  3. 1972

    Organises the public ARPANET demonstration

  4. 1974

    TCP paper with Vint Cerf

  5. 1979

    Director of DARPA’s IPTO

  6. 1986

    Founds CNRI

  7. 2004

    Turing Award

  8. 2013

    Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

Notable works

  • 1974

    A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication Paper

    With Vint Cerf.

  • 1994

    Handle System Identifier system

Awards and honours

  • Charles Stark Draper Prize

    2001

  • Turing Award

    2004

  • Presidential Medal of Freedom

    2005

  • Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

    2013

Did you know?

  1. 1

    DOIs used to cite research papers are based on his Handle System.

  2. 2

    He received most of his major honours jointly with Vint Cerf.

  3. 3

    He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

Connections

Also born on 23 December

Frequently asked

Who is Bob Kahn?

Bob Kahn is an American engineer who, with Vint Cerf, invented the TCP/IP protocols that are the foundation of the internet. At DARPA he championed the idea of an open network of networks. He shared the 2004 Turing Award and the 2005 Presidential Medal of Freedom with Cerf.

How old is Bob Kahn?

Bob Kahn is 87 years old, born on 23 December 1938 in New York City, United States.

Where is Bob Kahn from?

Bob Kahn was born in New York City, United States.

What is Bob Kahn known for?

Bob Kahn is best known for TCP/IP (with Vint Cerf); ARPANET; open-architecture networking; Turing Award 2004.

What awards has Bob Kahn received?

Notable honours include Charles Stark Draper Prize (2001), Turing Award (2004), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2005), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2013).

References

  1. Robert Kahn (computer scientist) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Robert Kahn (computer scientist) — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Robert Kahn (computer scientist) (Q62843) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Robert Kahn (computer scientist)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

Wikipedia
Filed under DARPAInternetTCP/IPTuring Award Computer ScientistEngineer

About this profile

Cite this page

“Bob Kahn.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/bob-kahn

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