Vint Cerf!

Welcome to the Piece Of Advice Newsletter!

Good morning! Today we will explore one of the founders of the internet, Vint Cerf!

Once upon a time, in the groovy tech-laden era of the 1970s, a man with a vision helped lay the digital foundation we now can’t imagine living without. Meet Vint Cerf; one of the brilliant minds behind the very thing you’re using to read this right now: the Internet! Known fondly as one of the “fathers of the Internet,” Cerf wasn’t building websites or sending memes, but rather helping invent the rules of the road for data to travel the world. Without him, cat videos, Zoom calls, and emoji-laden texts might still be a dream.

Cerf’s journey began in collaboration with another tech luminary, Bob Kahn. Together, they set out to solve a big problem: how do you get computers to speak different “languages” or to talk to each other reliably across vast distances? Their answer was elegant and genius: a protocol called TCP/IP. This set of digital instructions, developed in the early 1970s, is the very heartbeat of the Internet. It’s like a digital postal service, making sure your email reaches Tokyo from Toronto, or your favorite playlist streams seamlessly on a road trip.

Their breakthrough wasn’t an overnight success. Cerf and Kahn worked with the U.S. Department of Defense’s ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency), where they tested and refined their invention. By 1983, TCP/IP became the standard for ARPANET;  the government research network that evolved into today’s Internet. From there, things snowballed. Universities, corporations, and eventually homes around the world plugged in, and the Web-spinning began. All thanks to some serious protocol wizardry from Vint and his team.

But Cerf didn’t stop there. With his ever-present curiosity, he’s been an advocate for accessible, global Internet ever since. He worked at MCI, NASA’s “Jet Propulsion Lab”, and eventually became Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist (yes, that’s a real title). From interplanetary Internet research to policy-making efforts, Cerf’s mission has always been to keep the Internet open, safe, and for everyone;  no matter where you live or what device you use to log in!

Piece Of Advice:

Giancarlo: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Vint Cerf: From Nobel Prize Winner, Joshua Lederberg: “Do something!”

Thank you for joining us again and we will see you with another cool one on Monday! Have an amazing and productive week!

-Giancarlo