Elizabeth Feinler

Internet Pioneer, Active Volunteer

297 - MEET THE 2018 WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY HALL OF FAME HONOREES

Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler managed the ARPANET and the Defense Data Network, both of which were forerunners of today's Internet. She joined SRI International in 1960, heading up the Information Research Department before starting her work on the Internet as a member of Dr. Douglas Engelbart's Augmentation Research Center. Her group developed the first WHOIS server, along with an early model for today's email systems, as well as the top-level domain naming scheme of .com, .edu, etc.

After leaving SRI, Ms. Feinler worked as a contractor for NASA Ames Research Center, helping to bring networking to the large NSF and NASA telescope sites. She is a founding member of the Internet Engineering Task Force. Now retired, she remains active as a volunteer historian for the Computer History Museum. She is dedicated to preserving for future generations the history of what has become one of the greatest inventions of the modern world: the Internet.