Vinton Cerf
Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
Vinton G. Cerf has served as vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google since October 2005. In this role, he contributes to global policy development, cloud services in the public sector and continued standardization and spread of the Internet. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.
Cerf has previously served in executive positions at MCI and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. He also served on the faculty of Stanford University and as Principal Scientist of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency where he ran the Internet project and associated Packet Radio, Packet Satellite and Packet Security programs.
Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. The Turing award is sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Computer Science.” In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest
civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize and in 2013 Cerf, Kahn and three others received the Queen Elizabeth Prize in Engineering. Cerf was made an officer of the French Legion d’Honneur in December 2014 and Foreign Member of the British Royal Society in July 2016. In 2018 together with Robert Kahn, he received the Franklin Medal. He received the Catalunya International Prize in March 2019 and the PeaceTech International Award in January 2020.
Cerf was appointed by President Obama to serve a six year term on the National Science Board beginning in May 2012. He served as president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) from 2012-2014. He served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2000-2007. Cerf also served as founding president of the Internet
Society from 1992-1995 and in 1999 served a term as chairman of the Board. In addition, Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol. Cerf served as a member of the U.S. Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 1997 to 2001 and has served on several national, state and
industry committees focused on cyber-security. Cerf sat on the Board of Directors for the Americas Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and served as Chairman until 2016. He is Chairman of the Marconi Society and is a member of the Science Advisory Board for CosmosID. Cerf also sat on the Board of Associates of Gallaudet University until 2017. He served on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Advisory Committee and has been a distinguished visiting scientist there since 1998. He was appointed to the Science Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council in 2018. He served as Chair of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology during 2006-2013 and was reappointed in 2018. He also serves as Treasurer of the National Medals of Science & Technology Foundation. Cerf is a Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum, the Annenberg Center for Communications at USC, the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering, the American
Philosophical Society, the Hasso Platner Institute and is a member of the US National Academies of Engineering and Science. In 2011, he was made Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. Cerf is an honorary liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. He served as Chairman of the Board of the People Centered Internet and Chairs the Innovation for Jobs organizations.
Cerf is a recipient of numerous additional awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet. These include the Marconi Fellowship, Charles Stark Draper award of the National Academy of Engineering, the Prince of Asturias award for science and technology, the National Medal of Science from Tunisia, the St. Cyril and St. Methodius Order (Grand Cross) of Bulgaria, the Terra Mariana Medal of Estonia, the Alexander Graham Bell Award presented by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the NEC Computer and Communications Prize, the Silver Medal of the International Telecommunications Union, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Award, the ACM Software and Systems Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Award, the Computer and Communications Industries Association Industry Legend Award, the Yuri Rubinsky Web Award, the Kilby
Award , the Rotary Club International Paul P. Harris Medal, the Joseph Priestley Award from Dickinson College, the Yankee Group/Interop/Network World Lifetime Achievement Award, the George R. Stibitz Award, the Werner Wolter Award, the Andrew Saks Engineering Award, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the Computerworld/Smithsonian Leadership Award, the J.D. Edwards Leadership Award for Collaboration, World Institute on Disability Annual award and the Library of Congress Bicentennial Living Legend medal. Cerf was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2006. He was made an Eminent Member of the
IEEE Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) honor society in 2009. In 2010 he received a Lifetime Webby Award. In February 2011 he was named a Stanford Engineering School “Hero” for his work on the Internet and received a lifetime achievement award from the Oxford Internet Institute. In 2015, he received the Colombian Murillo Toro medal for communications. In November 2018, he gave the Romanes Lecture at Oxford University. He and Robert Kahn received the Donald A.B. Lindberg Health Communication Award from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine in September, 2019.
In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year’s “25 Most Intriguing People.”
In addition to his work on behalf of Google and the Internet, Cerf has served as a technical advisor to production for “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: The Final Conflict” and made a special guest appearance on the program in May 1998. Cerf has appeared on television programs such as NextWave with Leonard Nimoy and often co-hosted World Business Review with Alexander Haig and Caspar Weinberger. In July 2014, he appeared on the Colbert Report television show. Cerf also holds an appointment as distinguished visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he is working on the design and implementation of an interplanetary Internet.
Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA. He also holds honorary Doctorate degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH),
Zurich; Lulea University of Technology, Sweden; University of the Balearic Islands, Palma; Capitol College, Maryland; Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania; George Mason University, Virginia; Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands; Brooklyn Polytechnic; Marymount University; the University of Pisa; the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; the University of Zaragoza, Spain; the Technical University of Cartagena, Spain; the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain; Bethany College,
Kansas; the Moscow State University of International Relations; the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology; Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; Yale University; Gallaudet University, Washington DC; St. Andrews University, Scotland; Pitt University, Pittsburgh; McGill University, Canada; the Ramon Llull University (La Salle) in Barcelona, Spain; and University of Reading, UK.
His personal interests include fine wine, gourmet cooking and science fiction. Cerf and his wife, Sigrid, were married in 1966 and have two sons, David and Bennett.
Vinton G. Cerf has served as vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google since October 2005. In this role, he contributes to global policy development, cloud services in the public sector and continued standardization and spread of the Internet. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.
Cerf has previously served in executive positions at MCI and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. He also served on the faculty of Stanford University and as Principal Scientist of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency where he ran the Internet project and associated Packet Radio, Packet Satellite and Packet Security programs.
Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. The Turing award is sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Computer Science.” In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest
civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize and in 2013 Cerf, Kahn and three others received the Queen Elizabeth Prize in Engineering. Cerf was made an officer of the French Legion d’Honneur in December 2014 and Foreign Member of the British Royal Society in July 2016. In 2018 together with Robert Kahn, he received the Franklin Medal. He received the Catalunya International Prize in March 2019 and the PeaceTech International Award in January 2020.
Cerf was appointed by President Obama to serve a six year term on the National Science Board beginning in May 2012. He served as president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) from 2012-2014. He served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2000-2007. Cerf also served as founding president of the Internet
Society from 1992-1995 and in 1999 served a term as chairman of the Board. In addition, Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol. Cerf served as a member of the U.S. Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 1997 to 2001 and has served on several national, state and
industry committees focused on cyber-security. Cerf sat on the Board of Directors for the Americas Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and served as Chairman until 2016. He is Chairman of the Marconi Society and is a member of the Science Advisory Board for CosmosID. Cerf also sat on the Board of Associates of Gallaudet University until 2017. He served on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Advisory Committee and has been a distinguished visiting scientist there since 1998. He was appointed to the Science Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council in 2018. He served as Chair of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology during 2006-2013 and was reappointed in 2018. He also serves as Treasurer of the National Medals of Science & Technology Foundation. Cerf is a Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum, the Annenberg Center for Communications at USC, the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering, the American
Philosophical Society, the Hasso Platner Institute and is a member of the US National Academies of Engineering and Science. In 2011, he was made Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. Cerf is an honorary liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. He served as Chairman of the Board of the People Centered Internet and Chairs the Innovation for Jobs organizations.
Cerf is a recipient of numerous additional awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet. These include the Marconi Fellowship, Charles Stark Draper award of the National Academy of Engineering, the Prince of Asturias award for science and technology, the National Medal of Science from Tunisia, the St. Cyril and St. Methodius Order (Grand Cross) of Bulgaria, the Terra Mariana Medal of Estonia, the Alexander Graham Bell Award presented by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the NEC Computer and Communications Prize, the Silver Medal of the International Telecommunications Union, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Award, the ACM Software and Systems Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Award, the Computer and Communications Industries Association Industry Legend Award, the Yuri Rubinsky Web Award, the Kilby
Award , the Rotary Club International Paul P. Harris Medal, the Joseph Priestley Award from Dickinson College, the Yankee Group/Interop/Network World Lifetime Achievement Award, the George R. Stibitz Award, the Werner Wolter Award, the Andrew Saks Engineering Award, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the Computerworld/Smithsonian Leadership Award, the J.D. Edwards Leadership Award for Collaboration, World Institute on Disability Annual award and the Library of Congress Bicentennial Living Legend medal. Cerf was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2006. He was made an Eminent Member of the
IEEE Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) honor society in 2009. In 2010 he received a Lifetime Webby Award. In February 2011 he was named a Stanford Engineering School “Hero” for his work on the Internet and received a lifetime achievement award from the Oxford Internet Institute. In 2015, he received the Colombian Murillo Toro medal for communications. In November 2018, he gave the Romanes Lecture at Oxford University. He and Robert Kahn received the Donald A.B. Lindberg Health Communication Award from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine in September, 2019.
In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year’s “25 Most Intriguing People.”
In addition to his work on behalf of Google and the Internet, Cerf has served as a technical advisor to production for “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: The Final Conflict” and made a special guest appearance on the program in May 1998. Cerf has appeared on television programs such as NextWave with Leonard Nimoy and often co-hosted World Business Review with Alexander Haig and Caspar Weinberger. In July 2014, he appeared on the Colbert Report television show. Cerf also holds an appointment as distinguished visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he is working on the design and implementation of an interplanetary Internet.
Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA. He also holds honorary Doctorate degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH),
Zurich; Lulea University of Technology, Sweden; University of the Balearic Islands, Palma; Capitol College, Maryland; Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania; George Mason University, Virginia; Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands; Brooklyn Polytechnic; Marymount University; the University of Pisa; the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; the University of Zaragoza, Spain; the Technical University of Cartagena, Spain; the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain; Bethany College,
Kansas; the Moscow State University of International Relations; the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology; Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; Yale University; Gallaudet University, Washington DC; St. Andrews University, Scotland; Pitt University, Pittsburgh; McGill University, Canada; the Ramon Llull University (La Salle) in Barcelona, Spain; and University of Reading, UK.
His personal interests include fine wine, gourmet cooking and science fiction. Cerf and his wife, Sigrid, were married in 1966 and have two sons, David and Bennett.
