Professor Leonard Kleinrock has been elected to the National Academy of Inventors.
According to the academy, the honor recognizes inventors at academic institutions who have “demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.”
A Beverly Hills resident, Kleinrock is a distinguished professor of computer science at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Kleinrock pioneered the mathematical theory of packet switching, the technology underpinning the Internet. His research interests include packet-switching networks, packet-radio networks, local area networks, broadband networks, nomadic computing, peer-to-peer networks and intelligent software agents.
Kleinrock was lauded earlier this fall at the “Internet 50: From Founders to Futurists” symposuium at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Held on Oct. 29, the day-long event gathered together a who’s who of technologists, thinkers, activists, engineers and executives. Fifty years earlier to the day, on Oct. 29, 1969, Kleinrock and his team sent the first message over the Arpanet, the precursor to today’s Internet. The team attempted to transmit the command “LOGIN” from their workstation in room 3420 of UCLA’s Boelter Hall to a terminal at Stanford Research Institute. The system crashed, but not before the first two letters, “LO,” had been sent. Soon after, the network was restored, the intended message was transmitted in its entirety and a new era of connectivity was born.
At the Royce Hall symposium, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti presented Kleinrock with a key to the city. The accolade adds to his collection of awards that includes the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest scientific honor. Kleinrock will be formally inducted in April at the National Academy of Inventor’s annual meeting in Phoenix.
