At a ceremony today in Hong Kong, the Internet Society inducted CERN computer scientist Ben Segal into the Internet Hall of Fame.
Launched by the Internet Society in 2012, the Internet Hall of Fame in its virtual museum celebrates individuals for their significant contributions to the development and advancement of the Internet.
Segal was awarded the honour Global Connector, recognizing individuals from around the world who have made significant contributions to the global growth and use of the Internet.
Segal joined CERN's Data Handling Division in 1971 and worked in the field of computer communications. One early project was "STELLA"– an experiment that linked CERN by high-speed satellite connection with five other European research laboratories. He also worked on networking heterogeneous computer systems at CERN, including the gatewaying of workstations and UNIX systems to each other and to the CERN mainframes (IBM, CDC, Vax and Cray).
From 1985 to 1988, as CERN's first official "TCP/IP Co-ordinator", Segal was responsible for coordinating the introduction of the Internet protocols within CERN. He also taught TCP/IP, Unix and distributed computing from 1986 to 2002 in many countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Segal joins three other CERN members of the Internet Hall of Fame including World Wide Web innovators Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau, and Internet innovator François Flückiger.
The award ceremony for the 24 inductees is scheduled for 8 April at 6pm Hong Kong time.