Robert Taylor, a computer scientist who was instrumental in the creation of the internet and modern computer, has died. He was 85.
Taylor, who had suffered from Parkinson's disease, died on April 13th 2017 at his home in Woodside, California.
While many people played a role in building the internet, few made as many contributions as Taylor.
As a researcher for the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1966, Taylor created Arpanet, a single computer network to link each project with the others that would evolve into what we now know as the internet.
Taylor correctly predicted the network would one day become an efficient and necessary utility for the public.
In 1970, Taylor moved on to Xerox's famous Palo Alto Research Centre, where he oversaw design and creation of the Alto, considered a pioneer in personal computers.
Taylor's team also developed the networking technology Ethernet and a what-you-see-is-what-you-get word processing program called Bravo that would become the basis for Microsoft Word.
Taylor also played a key role in the creation of the computer mouse.
Taylor also developed AltaVista search engine in 1995, two years before Google was founded.
Robert Taylor : Know More - Taylor was born in Dallas on Feb. 10, 1932.
- After serving in the US Navy Reserve during the Korean War, Taylor returned to his studies.
- He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.
- In 1999, Taylor was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for visionary leadership.
- In 2004, he and other PARC researchers were awarded the National Academy of Engineering's Draper Prize for development of "the first practical networked personal computers."
- Taylor retired in 1996.
