Robert W. Taylor, the man who envisioned the internet and created the modern PC, passes away

One of the lesser-known heroes from the early years of the internet, Robert Taylor, has passed away at the age of 85.

While Tim-Berners Lee is known as the father of the world wide web, it was Taylor who helped created the network that brought it into existence.

It all started in 1965, when Taylor transferred to the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). Observing the communities that were developing around various computers that were in use at the time, he realised that these communities couldn’t actually communicate effectively with one another.

Computers at the time were large, room-scale machines. Access to these computers was granted via terminals and a time-share system.

Taylor hoped to network these computers in hopes of at least communicating with everyone via a single terminal. This simple idea resulted in the creation of the internet as we know it today.

He best describes his vision in a paper that he published in 1968. The introduction to the paper reads, “In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face.”

If the creation of the foundation of the internet wasn’t enough, Taylor later went on to work at Xerox, where he helped in the creation of the personal computers, Ethernet, the technology behind laser printers and even word processing programs.

Taylor doesn’t claim credit for any of the work at Xerox, and there really is no reason to. But the fact remains that he was running the company’s day-to-day operations at a time when it was at its most creative. To assume that he didn’t have a hand in the pivotal work being done there would be foolish.

Robert Taylor was an innovative scientist and a very smart man, he also took pleasure in nurturing talented young scientists.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Robert William Taylor passed away at his home on 13 April 2017.