Ethernet co-inventor Bob Metcalfe wins the Turing Award, the ‘Nobel Prize of computing’

Even should you’re not plugging an Ethernet cable into the wall, someplace alongside the chain you are still counting on that know-how to get on-line. You’ve got received Bob Metcalfe and the late David Boggs to thank for that. Collectively at Xerox’s famend Palo Alto Analysis Institute (higher referred to as Xerox PARC), the pair developed Ethernet and set the stage for a networking revolution. Yesterday, Metcalfe received the Affiliation for Computing Equipment (ACM) A.M. Turing Award, which is commonly pegged the “Nobel Prize of computing.”

Due to funding from Google, that prize is now price $1 million, and it is one more spotlight for Metcalfe’s storied profession. After leaving Xerox PARC, he based 3com, a networking gear firm that introduced Ethernet to the mainstream. “It’s harmful to just accept an award for growing Ethernet, which turns 50 on Could 22, 2023,” Metcalfe informed the College of Texas, the place he now serves as a professor emeritus. “Over Ethernet’s 50 years, a whole lot of individuals have earned some declare of inventorship. Be a part of me in saying to those of us, ‘Thanks.’”