Roger Scantlebury facts for kids
Roger Scantlebury (born in August 1936) is a British computer scientist and an Internet pioneer. He helped create how computers talk to each other. He worked at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and later at a company called Logica.
In the late 1960s, Roger Scantlebury led important work on "packet switching" at NPL. This is a way to break down data into small "packets" to send it across networks. He also worked on "communication protocols," which are like rules for computers to understand each other. He suggested using this technology for the ARPANET, which was an early version of the Internet. This happened at a big meeting in 1967. In the 1970s, he was a key person in the International Network Working Group. He helped develop ideas that became part of the Internet protocol suite, which are the main rules for the Internet today.
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Roger Scantlebury's Career
Roger Scantlebury worked at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in London. He started by working on early computers like the Automatic Computing Engine.
Building the First Packet Network
Later, he was asked to help build a new way for computers to send data. This was based on ideas from Donald Davies about packet switching. Roger Scantlebury and Keith Bartlett were the first to use the word "protocol" for how computers communicate. This was in a paper they wrote in 1967.
In October 1967, he went to a conference in the United States. There, he explained how packet switching worked. Larry Roberts from ARPA was also at this conference. This was the first time Larry Roberts heard about packet switching. Roger Scantlebury helped convince Roberts and other American engineers to use packet switching for the ARPANET.
After that, Roger Scantlebury led the creation of the NPL Data Communications Network. He wrote many papers about how to build these new computer networks. Parts of the NPL network started working in early 1969. This was the first time packet switching was actually used. The NPL network was also the first to use very fast connections.
Shaping Internet Rules
From 1972, Roger Scantlebury was a major part of the International Network Working Group (INWG). This group helped decide the early rules for how different computer networks would connect. He attended a key INWG meeting in New York in 1973. His work was even mentioned by Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf in their famous 1974 paper about connecting networks. He also helped write a standard agreement for international network rules in 1975.
Roger Scantlebury later became the head of the data networks group at NPL. He helped the UK contribute to the European Informatics Network. This network connected research centers like CERN and INRIA using a type of packet network called a datagram network.
Working at Logica
In 1977, Roger Scantlebury joined Logica, a technology company. He worked on the X.25 protocol, which was a set of rules for packet-switched networks. He also helped create Euronet, a large European network that used X.25. Later, he worked in the Finance Division at Logica.
He continued working in the computer industry for many years, including for companies like Mercator Software and Kofax. He retired in 2020.
Personal Life
Roger Scantlebury married Christine Appleby in 1958. They have two sons and a daughter. He lives in Esher.
He helped convince NPL to support a special gallery about the "Technology of the Internet" at The National Museum of Computing. This gallery opened in 2009 and shows how the Internet was created.
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