Esmeralda Bermudez and Michael Hiltzik “Robert W. Taylor, a pioneer of the modern computer, dies at 85” http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-robert-taylor-obit-20170414-story.html
Associated Press “Robert Taylor, internet and computer pioneer, dies aged 85” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/15/robert-taylor-internet-computer-pioneer-dies
コンピュータ・サイエンティストのロバート・テイラー氏が現地時間４月1日にカリフォルニア州ウッドサイド*1の自宅にて他界した。享年85歳。長らくパーキンソン病を患っていた。
テイラー氏は1960年代に、インターネットの前身となるARPANETの構築に関与した。『羅府時報』の記事からコピーしておく；
1970年代になると、彼はゼロックスのパロ・アルト研究所に移り、パーソナル・コンピュータ及びグラフィック・ユーザー・インターフェイスの開発に関わった。インターネットにしてもPCにしても、彼がいなかったら、今日の知的活動は全く違ったものになっていただろう。また、マッキントッシュもWINDOWSも起源を辿れば、ロバート・テイラー率いるところのパロ・アルト研究所に行き着く。
The adopted son of a Methodist minister and his wife landed at the Pentagon in the mid-1960s after a stint with NASA.He worked at the Advanced Projects Research Agency, or ARPA, and was responsible for a project devoted to interactive computing.
With millions of dollars at his disposal, Taylor funded nascent computer-science programs at institutions around the country ― MIT, UCLA, Stanford, the universities of Utah and Illinois.
He nurtured the youngest, most talented scientists he could find.
But it irked him to have to deal with their myriad incompatible computer systems. He demanded a system that would allow them to communicate with each other and secured the funding to get the concept off the ground.
He then oversaw the construction of a network that seamlessly connected numerous research computers nationwide.
Taylor foresaw that this network would one day not only be an administrative tool, but a necessary utility for the public.
In a 1968 paper he co-wrote, Taylor stated: "In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face."
He predicted that the network would provide services people would come to rely on, such as investment advice, and others that you would "call for when you need them," like dictionaries and encyclopedias.
ところで、昨年３月には「電子メイル」というシステムを発明したレイ・トムリンソンがなくなっているのだった；
“Ray Tomlinson, email inventor and selector of @ symbol, dies aged 74” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/ray-tomlinson-email-inventor-and-selector-of-symbol-dies-aged-74 *2
