Radia Perlman
Network engineer who invented the spanning-tree protocol, the “mother of the internet”
- Age
- 74 yrs
- Birthday in 43 days
- Works listed
- 2
- Book, Poem
- Honours
- 3
- Most recent 2016
- Profile views
- 0
- 0 followers
Radia Perlman is an American network engineer whose Spanning Tree Protocol lets Ethernet networks connect without data looping endlessly. Her work on routing protocols is fundamental to how large networks operate, and she is sometimes called the “mother of the internet”, a title she dislikes.
Biography
Education
Perlman grew up in New Jersey, the child of two engineers. At MIT she earned degrees in mathematics and a PhD in computer science. As a student she created TORTIS, a system that taught young children programming with a physical robot.
Spanning tree
At Digital Equipment Corporation in 1985 she invented the Spanning Tree Protocol, which lets network bridges automatically find a loop-free path. She described it in a poem, “Algorhyme”. STP became part of the IEEE 802.1 standard.
Routing
She designed robust link-state routing, including IS-IS, used by many internet service providers, and later TRILL, a successor to spanning tree.
Teaching and writing
Her book Interconnections is a classic text on networking. She has worked at Sun Microsystems, Intel and Dell EMC and holds more than 100 patents. She was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016.
Timeline
-
1951
Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States
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1976
TORTIS at MIT
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1980
Joins DEC
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1985
Spanning Tree Protocol
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1988
PhD from MIT
-
1992
Interconnections published
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2014
Internet Hall of Fame
-
2016
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Notable works
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1992
Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols Book
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1985
Algorhyme Poem
Awards and honours
-
SIGCOMM Award
2010
-
Internet Hall of Fame
2014
-
National Inventors Hall of Fame
2016
Did you know?
-
1
Her poem begins: “I think that I shall never see / A graph more lovely than a tree.”
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2
She says the internet had no single mother or father.
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3
Her children’s programming robot was an early form of educational robotics.
Connections
Related people
Frequently asked
Who is Radia Perlman?
Radia Perlman is an American network engineer whose Spanning Tree Protocol lets Ethernet networks connect without data looping endlessly. Her work on routing protocols is fundamental to how large networks operate, and she is sometimes called the “mother of the internet”, a title she dislikes.
How old is Radia Perlman?
Radia Perlman is 74 years old, born on 18 December 1951 in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States.
Where is Radia Perlman from?
Radia Perlman was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States.
What is Radia Perlman known for?
Radia Perlman is best known for Spanning Tree Protocol; link-state routing; TRILL; Interconnections.
What awards has Radia Perlman received?
Notable honours include SIGCOMM Award (2010), Internet Hall of Fame (2014), National Inventors Hall of Fame (2016).
References
- Radia Perlman — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Radia Perlman — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Radia Perlman (Q7558) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Radia Perlman”, 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
“Radia Perlman.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/radia-perlman
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