View source for Larry Roberts (computer scientist)

{{Short description|American electrical engineer and Internet pioneer}}
{{Other people|Lawrence Roberts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name                      = Lawrence Roberts
| image                     = Larry Roberts.jpg
| image_size                =
| alt                       = 
| caption                   = Roberts in 2017
| birth_name                = Lawrence Gilman Roberts
| birth_date                = {{Birth date|1937|12|21}}
| birth_place               = [[Westport, Connecticut]], U.S.
| death_date                = {{Death date and age|2018|12|26|1937|12|21}}
| death_place               = [[Redwood City, California]]
| resting_place             = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} -->
| fields                    = [[Computer science]]
| workplaces                = [[MIT Lincoln Laboratory]], [[DARPA|ARPA]], [[Telenet]]
| alma_mater                = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| thesis_title              = 
| thesis_url                = 
| thesis_year               = 
| doctoral_advisor          = 
| academic_advisors         = [[Steven Anson Coons]]
| doctoral_students         = 
| notable_students          = 
| known_for                 = ARPANET, founding father of the [[Internet]]
| awards                    = {{hlist |[[Internet Hall of Fame]], 2012 |[[IEEE Computer Pioneer Award]] | [[W. Wallace McDowell Award|IEEE Computer Society W. Wallace McDowell Award]] |[[ACM SIGCOMM]] Award |[[Harry H. Goode Memorial Award]] |International Engineering Consortium Fellow award, 2001 |[[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] of the National Academy of Engineering |Principe de Asturias Award, 2002 |[[Defense Meritorious Service Medal |Secretary of Defense Meritorious Service Medal]] |Interface Conference Award |L.M. Ericsson prize for research in data communications, 1982}}
| signature                 = <!--(filename only)-->
| signature_alt             = 
| footnotes                 = <ref>{{cite book
  |chapter=Lawrence Gilman Roberts
  |title=World of Computer Science
  |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]
  |year=2006
  |access-date=January 16, 2013
  |chapter-url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK2424100099&userGroupName=fairfax_main&jsid=14e93b1cb6a78dba08b6c17d2ee11705
  |id=Gale Document Number GALE<nowiki>|</nowiki>K2424100099
  |chapter-format=fee, via [[Fairfax County Public Library]]
}} Gale Biography In Context  {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
  |newspaper=[[MIT News]]
  |title=Big achievements included room-size computers
  |date=May 21, 2003
  |access-date=January 16, 2013
  |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/eecs-time-0521.html}}</ref><ref name=1990award>{{cite web
  |publisher=IEEE Computer Society
  |title=Lawrence G. Roberts: 1990 W. Wallace McDowell Award Recipient
  |access-date=January 16, 2013
  |url=http://www.computer.org/portal/web/awards/roberts-wallace
  |archive-date=April 2, 2013
  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402201119/http://www.computer.org/portal/web/awards/roberts-wallace
  |url-status=dead
  }}</ref>
| spouse                    =  
}}
'''Larry Roberts''' (December 21, 1937 – December 26, 2018) was an American [[computer scientist]] and [[Internet pioneer]].

As a program manager and later office director at the [[Advanced Research Projects Agency]], Roberts and his team created the [[ARPANET]], the first wide-area computer network to implement [[packet switching]] techniques invented by British computer scientist [[Donald Davies]] and American engineer [[Paul Baran]].<ref name="Abbate2000">{{cite book |last1=Abbate |first1=Jane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9BfZxFZpElwC&pg=PA3 |title=Inventing the Internet |date=1999 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262261333 |page=3 |quote=The manager of the ARPANET project, Lawrence Roberts, assembled a large team of computer scientists ... and he drew on the ideas of network experimenters in the United States and the United Kingdom.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=May 30, 2015|title=A Flaw In The Design|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/30/net-of-insecurity-part-1/|quote=Historians credit seminal insights to Welsh scientist Donald W. Davies and American engineer Paul Baran}}</ref> The ARPANET's principal designer was [[Bob Kahn]], alongside several other computer scientists from [[BBN Technologies|Bolt Beranek and Newman]] (BBN) who worked on the [[Interface Message Processor|Interface Message Processors]] (IMPs) and their [[Communication protocol|communication protocols]]. Roberts asked [[Leonard Kleinrock]] to apply mathematical methods to model and measure the performance of the network. In the 1970s, ARPA sponsored research on communication protocols for [[internetworking]], using concepts pioneered by [[Louis Pouzin]], that led to the development of the modern [[Internet]]. 

After his work at ARPA, Roberts became CEO of the commercial packet-switching network [[Telenet]], the first [[public data network]] in North America.

==Early life and education==
Lawrence Gilman Roberts, who was known as Larry, was born and raised in [[Westport, Connecticut]].<ref name="nytimes obit" /> He was the son of Elizabeth (Gilman) and Elliott John Roberts, both of whom had doctorates in [[chemistry]]. It is said that during his youth, he built a [[Tesla coil]], assembled a television, and designed a telephone network built from transistors for his parents' [[Girl Scouts of the USA|Girl Scout]] camp.<ref name="Wired_2001_05" />

Roberts attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), where he received his [[bachelor's degree]] (1959), [[master's degree]] (1960), and [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D., 1963),<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=Lawrence Gillman |title=Machine Perception of Three-Dimensional Solids |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/11589/33959125-MIT.pdf |access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> all in [[electrical engineering]].<ref name="Wired_2001_05">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.05/caspian.html?pg=3&topic=&topic_set=|title=The n -Dimensional Superswitch|magazine=Wired|date=May 2001|author=Josh McHugh|publisher=[[Wired Magazine]]}}</ref> Due to his Ph.D. thesis "Machine Perception of Three-Dimensional Solids"<ref name=":0" /> he is known as the father of [[computer vision]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mayor |first=Dana |date=2021-01-04 |title=Larry Roberts - Complete Biography, History and Inventions |url=https://history-computer.com/people/larry-roberts-complete-biography/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=History-Computer |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Seminar about Computer Vision |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349289585}}</ref>

==Career==

=== MIT ===
After receiving his PhD, Roberts continued to work at the MIT [[Lincoln Laboratory]].<ref name="Wired_2001_05" />  Having read the seminal 1961 paper of the "[[Intergalactic Computer Network]]"  by  [[J. C. R. Licklider]], Roberts developed a research interest in [[time-sharing]] using [[computer network]]s.{{sfn|Roberts|1978}}

In a 1964 MIT video, Roberts explains and demonstrates [[Ivan Sutherland]]'s pioneering [[computer graphics]] program [[Sketchpad]], then hosted on the [[MIT Lincoln Laboratory]] [[TX-2]] computer.<ref>{{cite AV media |last1=Fitch |first1=John |last2=Johnson |first2=Timothy |last3=Roberts |first3=Lawrence |date=1964 |title=Computer Sketchpad [Ivan Sutherland – Sketchpad Demo (2/2)] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWVzLKq-0sw |type=video |language=en |location=[[Lexington, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[MIT Lincoln Laboratory]] |via=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |time=5:54–9:25 |time-caption=Roberts appears at |access-date=9 January 2025}} Roberts is not shown in the video's ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFWBQKrvz24 first half (1/2)]''.</ref>

=== ARPA ===
In late 1966, although at first reluctant,<ref name=":1" /> he was recruited by [[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert Taylor]] in the ARPA [[Information Processing Techniques Office]] (IPTO) to become the program manager for the [[ARPANET]]. Roberts met [[Paul Baran]] in February 1967, but did not discuss networks.<ref name=":5c">{{Cite book |last=Waldrop |first=M. Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRnBEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT285 |title=The Dream Machine |date=2018 |publisher=Stripe Press |isbn=978-1-953953-36-0 |pages=285–6 |language=en |quote=Oops. Roberts knew Baran slightly and had in fact had lunch with him during a visit to RAND the previous February. But he certainly didn't remember any discussion of networks. How could he have missed something like that?}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Judy |date=5 March 1990 |title=An Interview with PAUL BARAN |url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107101/oh182pb.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |page=37 |quote=On Tuesday, 28 February 1967 I find a notation on my calendar for 12:00 noon Dr. L. Roberts.}}</ref> He asked [[Franklin H. Westervelt|Frank Westervelt]] to explore the initial design questions for a network.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |url=https://historyofcomputercommunications.info/section/4.7/planning-the-arpanet-1967-1968/ |title=4.7 Planning the ARPANET: 1967-1968 in Chapter 4 - Networking: Vision and Packet Switching 1959 - 1968 |work=The History of Computer Communications |first=James |last=Pelkey |access-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-date=December 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223230647/https://historyofcomputercommunications.info/section/4.7/planning-the-arpanet-1967-1968/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Roberts prepared a proposal that all host computers would connect to one another directly.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Press |first=Gil |date=January 2, 2015 |title=A Very Short History Of The Internet And The Web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2015/01/02/a-very-short-history-of-the-internet-and-the-web-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109145400/https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2015/01/02/a-very-short-history-of-the-internet-and-the-web-2/ |archive-date=January 9, 2015 |access-date=2020-02-07 |website=Forbes |language=en |quote=Roberts' proposal that all host computers would connect to one another directly ... was not endorsed ... Wesley Clark ... suggested to Roberts that the network be managed by identical small computers, each attached to a host computer. Accepting the idea, Roberts named the small computers dedicated to network administration 'Interface Message Processors' (IMPs), which later evolved into today's routers.}}</ref> Taylor and [[Wesley A. Clark|Wesley Clark]] disagreed with this design and Clark suggested the use of dedicated computers to create a [[message switching]] network, which were later called [[Interface Message Processor]]s (IMPs).<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=SRI Project 5890-1; Networking (Reports on Meetings).[1967] |url=https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/extra4/sloan/mousesite/EngelbartPapers/B1_F20_CompuMtg.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202062940/https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/extra4/sloan/mousesite/EngelbartPapers/B1_F20_CompuMtg.html |archive-date=February 2, 2020 |access-date=2020-02-15 |website=web.stanford.edu |quote=W. Clark's message switching proposal (appended to Taylor's letter of April 24, 1967 to Engelbart)were reviewed.}}</ref>

At the [[Symposium on Operating Systems Principles|Symposium on Operating System Principles]] (SOSP) that year, Roberts presented the plan based on Clark's message switching proposal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Naughton |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbonCgAAQBAJ&q=they+lacked+one+vital+ingredient |title=A Brief History of the Future: The origins of the Internet |date=2015 |publisher=Hachette |isbn=978-1474602778 |quote=they lacked one vital ingredient. Since none of them had heard of Paul Baran they had no serious idea of how to make the system work. And it took an English outfit to tell them. ... Larry Roberts paper was the first public presentation of the ARPANET concept as conceived with the aid of Wesley Clark ... Looking at it now, Roberts paper seems extraordinarily, well, vague.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tanenbaum |first1=Andrew S. |url=https://csc-knu.github.io/sys-prog/books/Andrew%20S.%20Tanenbaum%20-%20Computer%20Networks.pdf |title=Computer networks |last2=Wetherall |first2=David |date=2011 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-212695-3 |edition=5th |location=Boston Amsterdam |page=57 |quote=Roberts bought the idea and presented a some what vague paper about it at the ACM SIGOPS Symposium on Operating System Principles held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in late 1967}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Lawrence|date=1967|title=Multiple Computer Networks and Intercomputer Communications|chapter-url=https://people.mpi-sws.org/~gummadi/teaching/sp07/sys_seminar/arpanet.pdf|pages=3.1–3.6|doi=10.1145/800001.811680|quote=Thus the set of IMP's, plus the telephone lines and data sets would constitute a message switching network|chapter=Multiple computer networks and intercomputer communication|s2cid=17409102}}</ref> There he met [[Roger Scantlebury]], a member of [[Donald Davies]]'s team at the [[National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)|National Physical Laboratory]] in the United Kingdom, who presented their research on [[packet switching]] and suggested it for use in the ARPANET.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hafner |first1=Katie |url=http://archive.org/details/wherewizardsstay00haf_vgj |title=Where wizards stay up late: the origins of the Internet |last2=Lyon |first2=Matthew |date=1996 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-684-81201-4 |pages=76–78 |quote=Roger Scantlebury ... from Donald Davies' team ... presented a detailed design study for a packet switched network. It was the first Roberts had heard of it. ... Roberts also learned from Scantlebury, for the first time, of the work that had been done by Paul Baran at RAND a few years earlier.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Trevor Harris, University of Wales|date=2009|title=Who is the Father of the Internet?|url=https://www.academia.edu/378261|journal=Variety in Mass Communication Research|language=en|access-date=February 12, 2019|archive-date=October 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010001438/https://www.academia.edu/378261|url-status=dead}}</ref> Roberts applied Davies's concepts of packet switching for the ARPANET, and sought input from [[Paul Baran]].<ref name="Abbate200022">{{cite book |last1=Abbate |first1=Jane |author-link=Janet Abbate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BdY6WQo4AC&q=packet+switching&pg=PA125 |title=Inventing the Internet |date=2000 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262261333 |pages=37–8, 58–9 |quote=The NPL group influenced a number of American computer scientists in favor of the new technique, and they adopted Davies's term "packet switching" to refer to this type of network. Roberts also adopted some specific aspects of the NPL design.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Isaacson|first1=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4V9koAEACAAJ&pg=PA245|title=The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|date=2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781476708690|pages=237–246}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Katie Hefner|title=A Paternity Dispute Divides Net Pioneers|date=November 8, 2001|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/technology/a-paternity-dispute-divides-net-pioneers.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=New York Times}}; {{citation|author=Robert Taylor|title=Birthing the Internet: Letters From the Delivery Room; Disputing a Claim|date=November 22, 2001|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/22/technology/l-birthing-the-internet-letters-from-the-delivery-room-disputing-a-claim-325210.html|newspaper=New York Times|quote=Authors who have interviewed dozens of Arpanet pioneers know very well that the Kleinrock-Roberts claims are not believed.|author-link=Robert Taylor (computer scientist)}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite web |title=Shapiro: Computer Network Meeting of October 9–10, 1967 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/extra4/sloan/mousesite/Archive/Post68/ARPANETMeeting1167.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627133802/https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/extra4/sloan/mousesite/Archive/Post68/ARPANETMeeting1167.html |archive-date=27 June 2015 |website=stanford.edu}}</ref>

Roberts' plan for the ARPANET was the first wide area packet-switching network with distributed control, similar to Donald Davies' 1965 design.<ref>{{harvnb|Roberts|1978|}} "In nearly all respects, Davies’ original proposal, developed in late 1965, was similar to the actual networks being built today."</ref> ARPA issued a [[request for quotation]] (RFQ) to build the system, which was awarded to [[BBN Technologies|Bolt, Beranek and Newman]] (BBN). Significant aspects of the network's operation including routing, flow control, software design and network control were developed by the BBN [[Interface Message Processor|IMP]] team, which included [[Bob Kahn]].{{sfn|Roberts|1978}} Roberts managed its implementation and contracted with [[Leonard Kleinrock]] in 1968 to carry out mathematical modelling of the packet-switched network's performance.<ref name="Abbate20002">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9BfZxFZpElwC&pg=PA37|title=Inventing the Internet|last1=Abbate|first1=Jane|date=2000|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=0262261332|pages=37–8, 58–9}}</ref> Roberts engaged Howard Frank to consult on the topological design of the network. Frank made recommendations to increase throughput and reduce costs in a scaled-up network.<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 25, 2016|title=Howard Frank Looks Back on His Role as an ARPAnet Designer|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/blog/2016/04/25/howard-frank-looks-back-his-role-arpanet-designer|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321221214/https://www.internethalloffame.org/blog/2016/04/25/howard-frank-looks-back-his-role-arpanet-designer|archive-date=March 21, 2020|access-date=April 3, 2020|website=Internet Hall of Fame}}</ref> When Robert Taylor was sent to [[Vietnam]] in 1969 and then resigned, Roberts became director of the IPTO. He hired Barry Wessler to oversee development of the ARPANET host-to-host protocol.<ref>{{IETF RFC|53}}</ref><ref>{{cite tech report |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527095942/https://walden-family.com/bbn/arpanet-completion-report.pdf |title=Arpanet Completion Report |last1=Heart |first1=F. |last2=McKenzie |first2=A. |last3=McQuillian |first3=J. |last4=Walden |first4=D. |date=January 4, 1978 |page=III-63 |publisher=Bolt, Beranek and Newman |location=Burlington, MA}}</ref>

Roberts became a champion of packet switching.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-25 |title=Larry Roberts |url=https://computerhistory.org/profile/larry-roberts/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=CHM |language=en}}</ref> In 1970, he proposed to [[National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)|NPL]]'s Donald Davies that the two organizations connect their networks via a satellite link. This original proposal proved infeasible, but in 1971 [[Peter T. Kirstein|Peter Kirstein]] agreed to Roberts' proposal to connect his research group at [[University College London]] (UCL) instead. UCL provided interconnection with [[Internet in the United Kingdom#History|British academic networks]], forming the first international [[resource sharing]] network.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kirstein|first=P.T.|date=1999|title=Early experiences with the Arpanet and Internet in the United Kingdom|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4773/f19792f9fce8eacba72e5f8c2a021414e52d.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207092443/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4773/f19792f9fce8eacba72e5f8c2a021414e52d.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-07|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=21|issue=1|pages=38–44|doi=10.1109/85.759368|s2cid=1558618|issn=1934-1547}}</ref> Roberts anticipated in 1973 that it would be possible to use a satellite's 64 kilobit/second link as a medium shared by multiple satellite earth stations within the beam's footprint. This was implemented later by Bob Kahn, and resulted in [[SATNET]].

The [[George B. Purdy#The Purdy Polynomial|Purdy Polynomial]] hash algorithm was developed for the ARPANET to protect passwords in 1971 at the request of Roberts.

Roberts approached AT&T in the early 1970s about taking over the ARPANET to offer a public packet switched service but they declined.<ref name=":23">{{harvnb|Roberts|1978}}</ref>

In early 1973, Roberts predicted the network would run out of capacity in nine months. In practice, it was found that the time-sharing host computers ran out of capacity before the network did.<ref>{{cite tech report|last1=Heart|first1=F.|last2=McKenzie|first2=A.|last3=McQuillian|first3=J.|last4=Walden|first4=D.|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527095942/https://walden-family.com/bbn/arpanet-completion-report.pdf|title=Arpanet Completion Report|publisher=Bolt, Beranek and Newman|location=Burlington, MA|date=January 4, 1978}}</ref>

=== Telenet ===
In 1973, Roberts left ARPA to join BBN's effort to commercialize the nascent packet-switching technology in the form of [[Telenet]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_39/b3901030_mz072.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040922070308/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_39/b3901030_mz072.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 22, 2004|publisher=[[Business Week]] | title=Larry Roberts:He made the Net Work|date=September 27, 2004|author=Otis Port}}</ref>  the first FCC-licensed [[public data network]] in the United States. He was its [[CEO]] from 1973 to 1980. Roberts joined the international effort to standardize a protocol for packet switching based on [[virtual circuit]]s shortly before it was finalized.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Despres|first=Remi|date=2010|title=X.25 Virtual Circuits - TRANSPAC in France - Pre-Internet Data Networking|journal=IEEE Communications Magazine|volume=48|issue=11|pages=40–46|doi=10.1109/MCOM.2010.5621965|s2cid=23639680|issn=1558-1896}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rybczynski|first=Tony|date=2009|title=Commercialization of packet switching (1975-1985): A Canadian perspective [History of Communications]|journal=IEEE Communications Magazine|volume=47|issue=12|pages=26–31|doi=10.1109/MCOM.2009.5350364|s2cid=23243636|issn=1558-1896}}</ref> Telenet converted to the [[X.25]] protocol, which was adopted by [[Postal, telegraph and telephone service|PTTs]] across North America and Europe for [[public data network]]s in the mid-late 1970s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mathison|first1=Stuart L.|last2=Roberts|first2=Lawrence G.|last3=Walker|first3=Philip M.|date=2012|title=The history of telenet and the commercialization of packet switching in the U.S.|journal=IEEE Communications Magazine|volume=50|issue=5|pages=28–45|doi=10.1109/MCOM.2012.6194380|s2cid=206453987|issn=1558-1896}}</ref> Roberts promoted this approach over the [[datagram]] approach in [[Internet protocol suite|TCP/IP]] being pursued by ARPA, which he described as "oversold" in 1978.{{sfn|Roberts|1978}}

=== Later career ===
In 1983 he joined [[DHL Express|DHL Corporation]] as President. At the time, he predicted bandwidths would go down driven by voice compression technology.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Enterprise|first=I. D. G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMkrgmx7rjIC&pg=RA1-PA71|title=Computerworld|date=1983-03-14|publisher=IDG Enterprise|pages=71|language=en}}</ref>

He was CEO of NetExpress, an [[Asynchronous Transfer Mode]] (ATM) equipment company, from 1983 to 1993. Roberts was president of ATM Systems from 1993 to 1998.  He was chairman and CTO of Caspian Networks, but left in early 2004; Caspian ceased operation in late 2006.<ref name="WSJ_2007_10_02">{{cite web |publisher= [[The Wall Street Journal]] | title=Its Creators Call Internet Outdated, Offer Remedies |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119128309597345795 |author=Bobby White|date=October 2, 2007}}</ref>

{{As of |2011}}, Roberts was the founder and chairman of Anagran Inc. Anagran continues work in the same area as Caspian: IP flow management with improved [[quality of service]] for the Internet.<ref>{{cite web |title= Management Team |work= Anagan web site |url= http://anagran.com/ |access-date= April 19, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 1, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110501145013/http://www.anagran.com/ }}</ref>

Since September 2012, he was CEO of Netmax in [[Redwood City, California]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Cyberspace Sovereignty: Reflections on building a community of common future in cyberspace | first=  Bingxing | last= Fang | year = 2018 | pages = 154 | publisher = [[Springer Nature]] | isbn = 978-9811303203 }}</ref>

== Packet switching 'paternity dispute' ==
{{Further|Packet switching#The "paternity dispute"}}
Roberts claimed in later years that, by the time of the October 1967 SOSP, he already had the concept of packet switching in mind (although not yet named and not written down in his paper published at the conference, which a number of sources describe as "vague").<ref name=":19">{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Lawrence |title=Multiple Computer Networks and Intercomputer Communications |date=1967 |pages=3.1–3.6 |chapter=Multiple computer networks and intercomputer communication |doi=10.1145/800001.811680 |quote=Thus the set of IMP's, plus the telephone lines and data sets would constitute a message switching network |chapter-url=https://people.mpi-sws.org/~gummadi/teaching/sp07/sys_seminar/arpanet.pdf |s2cid=17409102}}</ref><ref name=":18">{{cite book |last1=Naughton |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbonCgAAQBAJ&q=they+lacked+one+vital+ingredient |title=A Brief History of the Future: The origins of the Internet |date=2015 |publisher=Hachette |isbn=978-1474602778 |quote=they lacked one vital ingredient. Since none of them had heard of Paul Baran they had no serious idea of how to make the system work. And it took an English outfit to tell them. ... Larry Roberts paper was the first public presentation of the ARPANET concept as conceived with the aid of Wesley Clark ... Looking at it now, Roberts paper seems extraordinarily, well, vague.}}</ref><ref name=":20">{{Cite book |last1=Tanenbaum |first1=Andrew S. |url=https://csc-knu.github.io/sys-prog/books/Andrew%20S.%20Tanenbaum%20-%20Computer%20Networks.pdf |title=Computer networks |last2=Wetherall |first2=David |date=2011 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-212695-3 |edition=5th |location=Boston Amsterdam |page=57 |quote=Roberts bought the idea and presented a some what vague paper about it at the ACM SIGOPS Symposium on Operating System Principles held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in late 1967}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kirstein |first=Peter T. |date=2009 |title=The early history of packet switching in the UK |journal=IEEE Communications Magazine |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=18–26 |doi=10.1109/MCOM.2009.4785372 |s2cid=34735326 |quote=It is more difficult to establish at this time, however, whether Larry intended to switch the fragments as independent packets in the ARPAnet before he heard of the NPL work; certainly he now claims that this was always his intention.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=technicshistory |date=2019-06-02 |title=ARPANET, Part 2: The Packet |url=https://technicshistory.com/2019/06/02/arpanet-part-2-the-packet/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Creatures of Thought |language=en |quote=The above description of how packet-switching came to be is the most widely-accepted one. However, there is an alternative version. Roberts claimed in later years that by the time of the Gatlinburg symposium, he already had the basic concepts of packet-switching well in mind, and that they originated with his old colleague Len Kleinrock, who had written about them as early as 1962, as part of his Ph.D. research on communication nets. It requires a great deal of squinting to extract anything resembling packet-switching from Kleinrock’s work, however, and no other contemporary textual evidence that I have come across backs the Kleinrock/Roberts account.}}</ref> Furthermore, he claimed that his experiment with Thomas Marill in October 1965,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapter 4 - Networking: Vision and Packet Switching 1959 - 1968 |url=https://historyofcomputercommunications.info/section/4.2/The-Seminal-Experiment-1965/}}</ref> was based on packet switching;<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Metz |first=Cade |title=Larry Roberts Calls Himself the Founder of the Internet. Who Are You to Argue? |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/09/larry-roberts/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Herrera |first=Laura |date=2024-05-21 |title=Internet: The Military Project That Connected and Transformed the World |url=https://tecscience.tec.mx/en/tech/internet-history/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=TecScience |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Marill & Lawrence G. Roberts Conduct the First "Actual Network Experiment" : History of Information |url=https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=836 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.historyofinformation.com}}</ref> and that their subsequent paper, ''Towards a Cooperative Network of Time-Shared Computers'', published the following year, was a blueprint for the ARPANET.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ARPANET Design Published {{!}} IEEE Communications Society |url=https://www.comsoc.org/node/19436 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.comsoc.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Herrera |first=Laura |date=2024-05-21 |title=Internet: The Military Project That Connected and Transformed the World |url=https://tecscience.tec.mx/en/tech/internet-history/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=TecScience |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hobbes' Internet Timeline - the definitive ARPAnet & Internet history |url=https://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.zakon.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 13, 2002 |title=MIT 18.996: Topic in TCS: Internet Research Problems |url=https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-996-topics-in-theoretical-computer-science-internet-research-problems-spring-2002/8c1fd33c9445f0949ad15533acfbdec1_lecture2_mit.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=A Brief History of the Internet |url=https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=Internet Society |language=en-US}}</ref> In addition, he began describing himself as having been the "Chief Scientist" at ARPA.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Roberts |url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductee/lawrence-roberts/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=Internet Hall of Fame |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lawrence Roberts - ARPANET Program Manager |url=https://www.livinginternet.info/i/ii_roberts.htm |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.livinginternet.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-12-21 |title=Mr. Lawrence (Larry) G. Roberts |url=https://www.ithistory.org/honor-roll/mr-lawrence-larry-g-roberts |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=IT History Society |language=en}}</ref> These claims have been reflected in publications about the history of the ARPANET and the Internet, and became part of the packet switching 'paternity dispute'.<ref name=":8">{{citation |author=Katie Hafner |title=A Paternity Dispute Divides Net Pioneers |date=November 8, 2001 |newspaper=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/technology/a-paternity-dispute-divides-net-pioneers.html?pagewanted=all |quote="The Internet is really the work of a thousand people," Mr. Baran said. "And of all the stories about what different people have done, all the pieces fit together. It's just this one little case that seems to be an aberration."}}</ref>

Roberts originally viewed his role at ARPA as "largely administrative".<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Hafner |first=Katie |date=2018-12-30 |title=Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet's Precursor, Dies at 81 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/lawrence-g-roberts-dies-at-81.html |access-date=2020-02-20 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |quote=He was reluctant to leave Lincoln Lab for a job he viewed as largely administrative. But eventually he agreed, and arrived at the Pentagon in December 1966.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-31 |title=Larry Roberts, Grandfather of the Internet, Dies at 81 |url=https://paleofuture.com/blog/2018/12/31/larry-roberts-grandfather-of-the-internet-dies-at-81 |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Paleofuture |language=en-US |quote=The work that Roberts contributed to the development of the internet is largely thought of as administrative and managerial as opposed to strictly technical}}</ref> His early work, prior to SOSP, has been described as "extend[ing] the concept of a support graphics processor to the idea of a network" using "existing telegraphic techniques".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barber |first1=Derek |date=Spring 1993 |title=The Origins of Packet Switching |url=http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res05.htm#f |journal=The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society |issue=5 |issn=0958-7403 |access-date=6 September 2017 |quote=Larry Roberts had extended the concept of a support graphics processor to the idea of a network, and he was then talking about multiple computer networks and inter-computer communication. Roger actually convinced Larry that what he was talking about was all wrong and that the way that NPL were proposing to do it was right. I've got some notes that say that first Larry was sceptical but several of the others there sided with Roger and eventually Larry was overwhelmed by the numbers. That actually gave birth to Arpanet}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oral-History:Donald Davies & Derek Barber |url=http://ethw.org/Oral-History:Donald_Davies_%26_Derek_Barber |access-date=13 April 2016 |quote=the ARPA network is being implemented using existing telegraphic techniques simply because the type of network we describe does not exist. It appears that the ideas in the NPL paper at this moment are more advanced than any proposed in the USA}}</ref> Primary sources and historians recognize Baran and Davies for independently inventing the concept of digital packet switching used in modern computer networking including the ARPANET and the Internet.<ref name=":16">{{Cite news |title=The real story of how the Internet became so vulnerable |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/30/net-of-insecurity-part-1/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530231409/http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/30/net-of-insecurity-part-1/ |archive-date=2015-05-30 |access-date=2020-02-18 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |quote=Historians credit seminal insights to Welsh scientist Donald W. Davies and American engineer Paul Baran}}</ref><ref name="Pelkeyp42">{{cite book |last1=Pelkey |first1=James L. |url=https://www.morganclaypoolpublishers.com/catalog_Orig/samples/9781450397292_sample.pdf |title=Circuits, Packets, and Protocols: Entrepreneurs and Computer Communications, 1968-1988 |last2=Russell |first2=Andrew L. |last3=Robbins |first3=Loring G. |date=2022 |publisher=Morgan & Claypool |isbn=978-1-4503-9729-2 |page=4 |quote="Paul Baran, an engineer celebrated as the co-inventor (along with Donald Davies) of the packet switching technology that is the foundation of digital networks"}}</ref><ref name="Abbate200023">{{cite book |last1=Abbate |first1=Jane |author-link=Janet Abbate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BdY6WQo4AC&q=packet+switching&pg=PA125 |title=Inventing the Internet |date=2000 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262261333 |pages=37–8, 58–9 |quote=The NPL group influenced a number of American computer scientists in favor of the new technique, and they adopted Davies's term "packet switching" to refer to this type of network. Roberts also adopted some specific aspects of the NPL design.}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last1=Norberg |first1=Arthur L. |title=Transforming computer technology: information processing for the Pentagon, 1962-1986 |last2=O'Neill |first2=Judy E. |date=1996 |publisher=Johns Hopkins Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5152-0 |series=Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology New series |location=Baltimore |pages=153–196}} Prominently cites Baran and Davies as sources of inspiration, and nowhere mentions Kleinrock's work.</ref><ref>{{cite report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA115440.pdf |title=A History of the ARPANET: The First Decade |date=1 April 1981 |publisher=Bolt, Beranek & Newman Inc. |pages=13, 53 of 183 |quote=Aside from the technical problems of interconnecting computers with communications circuits, the notion of computer networks had been considered in a number of places from a theoretical point of view. Of particular note was work done by Paul Baran and others at the Rand Corporation in a study "On Distributed Communications" in the early 1960's. Also of note was work done by Donald Davies and others at the National Physical Laboratory in England in the mid-1960's. ... Another early major network development which affected development of the ARPANET was undertaken at the National Physical Laboratory in Middlesex, England, under the leadership of D. W. Davies. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201013642/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA115440 |archive-date=1 December 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Roberts married and divorced four times. At the time of his death, his partner was physician Tedde Rinker.<ref name="nytimes obit"/> Roberts died at his California home from a heart attack on December 26, 2018.<ref name="nytimes obit">{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/lawrence-g-roberts-dies-at-81.html | title = Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet's Precursor, Dies of a heart attack at 81 | first = Katie | last =Hafner | date = December 30, 2018 | access-date = December 30, 2018 | work =[[The New York Times]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://om.co/2018/12/28/dr-larry-roberts-internet-pioneer-is-dead/|title=Dr. Larry Roberts, Internet Pioneer, is dead.|date=December 29, 2018|website=On my Om}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* [[IEEE]]  [[Harry H. Goode Memorial Award]] (1976 ), "In recognition of his contributions to the architectural design of computer-communication systems, his leadership in creating a fertile research environment leading to advances in computer and satellite communications techniques, his role in the establishment of standard international communication protocols and procedures, and his accomplishments in development and demonstration of packet switching technology and the ensuing networks which grew out of this work."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.computer.org/web/awards/goode |title=Harry H. Goode Memorial Award |date=April 4, 2018 |publisher=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]]| access-date=December 31, 2018}}</ref>
* Member, National Academy of Engineering (1978)<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17" />
*[[Lars Magnus Ericsson|L.M. Ericsson]] Prize (1982) in Sweden<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17">{{cite web|url=http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0511/1701-01.html|title=Brief Summary of Recipients' Careers|publisher=[[NEC]] | date=November 17, 2005}}</ref>
* Computer Design Hall of Fame Award (1982)<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17" />
* IEEE [[W. Wallace McDowell Award]] (1990), "For architecting packet switching technology and bringing it into practical use by means of the ARPA network."<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/menuitem.c5efb9b8ade9096b8a9ca0108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=ieeecs_level1&path=ieeecs/about/awards&file=WallaceMcD_recipients.xml&xsl=generic.xsl&;jsessionid=H3CQpNFv6QyzpHGF883QFQ3p1MGLLr25rRPQcrQ6LQsqpxsgQxVs!-822946952|title=W. Wallace McDowell Award|publisher=[[IEEE]]|access-date=September 15, 2008|archive-date=November 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107155315/https://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/menuitem.c5efb9b8ade9096b8a9ca0108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=ieeecs_level1&path=ieeecs%2Fabout%2Fawards&file=WallaceMcD_recipients.xml&xsl=generic.xsl&%3Bjsessionid=H3CQpNFv6QyzpHGF883QFQ3p1MGLLr25rRPQcrQ6LQsqpxsgQxVs%21-822946952|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Association for Computing Machinery]] [[SIGCOMM Award]] (1998), for "visionary contributions and advanced technology development of computer communication networks".<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17" /><ref>{{cite web|title=SIGCOMM Awards|url=http://www.sigcomm.org/awards.html|publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]] [[SIGCOMM]]}}</ref>
* [[IEEE Internet Award]] (2000) For "early, preeminent contributions in conceiving, analyzing and demonstrating packet-switching networks, the foundation technology of the Internet."<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/pr/internet.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210023036/http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/pr/internet.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 10, 2007|title=IEEE Internet Award Recipients|publisher=IEEE}}</ref>
* International Engineering Consortium Fellow Award (2001)<ref name="NEC_2005_11_17" />
* [[National Academy of Engineering]] [[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] (2001), ''"for the development of the Internet"'' <ref name="NAE_Draper_Citation">{{cite web|title=Lawrence G. Roberts Lawrence G. Roberts – Draper Award|url=https://www.nae.edu/Activities/Projects/Awards/DraperPrize/DraperWinners/page2001/55045.aspx|publisher=NAE Website|access-date=September 10, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=February 12, 2001 |title=Draper Prize Honors Four 'Fathers of the Internet' |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB982004616905008338 |access-date=September 5, 2017 |work=Wall Street Journal}}</ref>
* [[Prince of Asturias Awards|Principe de Asturias Award]] 2002 in Spain "for designing and implementing a system that is changing the world by providing previously unthought of opportunities for social and scientific progress."<ref>"The Internet is one of the most eloquent examples of the benefits that accrue from scientific research and a commitment to technological innovation. A myriad of people and institutions were involved in this work. The jury wishes to acknowledge them all in awarding the prize to the four leaders of so extraordinary a development."{{cite web|url=http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/04/premios/premios7_2002.html|title=Minutes of the Jury – Technical and Scientific Research 2002|publisher=[[Prince of Asturias Awards|Fundación Príncipe de Asturias]]|date=May 23, 2002|author=José Luis Álvarez Margaride|author2=Ernesto Carmona Guzmán|display-authors=etal|access-date=April 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121085530/http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/04/premios/premios7_2002.html|archive-date=November 21, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[NEC]] C&C Award (2005) in Japan "For Contributions to Establishing the Foundation of Today's Internet Technology through ... the Design and Development of ARPANET and Other Early Computer Networks that were Part of the Initial Internet."<ref>"The great success and popularity of the Internet are due to the efforts of a great many people, but it was the three members of Group B who truly created the technological foundation for its success ... Dr. Roberts, at ARPA, was responsible for creating the first computer network, the ARPANET, and for its architecture and overall management."  {{cite web|url=http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0511/1701.html|title=Foundation for C&C Promotion Announces Recipients of 2005 C&C Prize – Mr. Kei-ichi Enoki, Mr. Takeshi Natsuno, Ms. Mari Matsunaga, Dr. Robert E. Kahn, Dr. Lawrence G. Roberts, & Professor Leonard Kleinrock|publisher=[[NEC]] | date=November 17, 2005}}</ref>
* In 2012, Roberts was inducted into the [[Internet Hall of Fame]] by the [[Internet Society]].<ref>[http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/year/2012 2012 Inductees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213033309/http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/year/2012 |date=December 13, 2012 }}, [[Internet Hall of Fame]] website. Last accessed April 24, 2012</ref>

==See also==
*[[History of the Internet]]
*[[Internet pioneers]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Lawrence G. |date=1978 |title=The evolution of packet switching |journal=Proceedings of the IEEE |volume=66 |issue=11 |pages=1307–1313 |doi=10.1109/PROC.1978.11141 |s2cid=26876676}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkD4HVRnGJE Larry Roberts, "The ARPANET and Computer Networks"], Computer History Museum, 1986
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140111025036/http://packet.cc/ Personal website]
* [http://purl.umn.edu/107608 Oral history interview with Lawrence G. Roberts].  [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota.  Roberts directed the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) during 1968–1973 and was later chief operating officer of Network Express. The interview focuses on IPTO and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Much of Roberts's description of the work of ARPA and IPTO is set within the context of his interactions with Congress on budget matters. Topics include J. C. R. Licklider, Ivan Sutherland, [[Stephen J. Lukasik]], Wesley Clark, ARPA and IPTO support of research in computer science, computer networks, and artificial intelligence, the ARPANET, the involvement of universities with ARPA and IPTO.
* [http://purl.umn.edu/107387 Oral history interview with Robert E. Kahn].  [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota.  Kahn discusses the work of various DARPA and IPTO personnel including J. C. R. Licklider, Vinton Cerf, and Larry Roberts
* [http://www.internetevolution.com/bloggers.asp#Lawrence_G_Roberts Lawrence G. Roberts's] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618071354/http://www.internetevolution.com/bloggers.asp#Lawrence_G_Roberts |date=June 18, 2011 }} profile on [http://www.internetevolution.com/ Internet Evolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110329073654/http://www.internetevolution.com/ |date=March 29, 2011 }}, "the macrosite for news, analysis, & opinion about the future of the internet."
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/lawrence-g-roberts-dies-at-81.html "Obituary: Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet’s Precursor, Dies at 81"], Katie Hafner, ''New York Times'', December 30, 2018.

{{Internet Hall of Fame}}
{{Charles Stark Draper Prize}}
{{Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Lawrence}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Westport, Connecticut]]
[[Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Internet pioneers]]
[[Category:Draper Prize winners]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:MIT Lincoln Laboratory people]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]