Bob Metcalfe
Inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com
- Age
- 80 yrs
- Birthday in 152 days
- Works listed
- 1
- Paper
- Honours
- 3
- Most recent 2022
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Bob Metcalfe is an American engineer who co-invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC in 1973, the technology that connects most wired computer networks. He founded the networking company 3Com, formulated Metcalfe’s law about the value of networks and received the Turing Award in 2022.
Biography
Education
Metcalfe studied electrical engineering and management at MIT and earned his PhD at Harvard. While a student he connected MIT’s computers to the early ARPANET.
Ethernet
At Xerox PARC in 1973 he wrote a memo describing Ethernet, a way for many computers to share a single cable, inspired by the ALOHAnet radio network in Hawaii. With David Boggs and others he built it to connect PARC’s Alto computers to each other and to laser printers.
3Com
In 1979 he founded 3Com and persuaded DEC, Intel and Xerox to make Ethernet an open standard, which became IEEE 802.3. 3Com sold network cards for personal computers and grew into a large company.
Later career
Metcalfe later worked as a technology columnist and publisher, a venture capitalist and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Metcalfe’s law says a network’s value grows roughly with the square of the number of users. He received the Turing Award in 2022.
Timeline
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1946
Born in Brooklyn, New York, United States
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1973
Ethernet memo at Xerox PARC
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1976
Ethernet paper with David Boggs
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1979
Founds 3Com
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1983
Ethernet becomes an IEEE standard
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1996
IEEE Medal of Honor
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2011
Professor at UT Austin
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2022
Turing Award
Notable works
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1976
Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks Paper
With David Boggs.
Awards and honours
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IEEE Medal of Honor
1996
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National Medal of Technology
2003
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Turing Award
2022
Did you know?
-
1
He famously predicted in 1995 that the internet would collapse in 1996, and later ate his column in front of an audience.
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2
The name Ethernet comes from the old idea of the “luminiferous ether”.
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3
3Com stands for computer, communication and compatibility.
Connections
Related people
Frequently asked
Who is Bob Metcalfe?
Bob Metcalfe is an American engineer who co-invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC in 1973, the technology that connects most wired computer networks. He founded the networking company 3Com, formulated Metcalfe’s law about the value of networks and received the Turing Award in 2022.
How old is Bob Metcalfe?
Bob Metcalfe is 80 years old, born on 7 April 1946 in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Where is Bob Metcalfe from?
Bob Metcalfe was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
What is Bob Metcalfe known for?
Bob Metcalfe is best known for Co-inventing Ethernet; founding 3Com; Metcalfe’s law; Turing Award 2022.
What awards has Bob Metcalfe received?
Notable honours include IEEE Medal of Honor (1996), National Medal of Technology (2003), Turing Award (2022).
References
- Robert Metcalfe — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Robert Metcalfe — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Robert Metcalfe — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Robert Metcalfe (Q92766) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Robert Metcalfe”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Bob Metcalfe.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/bob-metcalfe
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