Oral history interview with Robert Braden

Abstract

This interview with internet pioneer Robert (“Bob”) Braden briefly covers his education in physics before concentrating on his long and distinguished career in computer science. He served at the computation centers of Carnegie Institute of Technology and Stanford University before joining UCLA as Manager of Programming (1968-1974) and later serving (1975-1986) as Project Director for Software Research. In 1986 he became a Supervising Computer Scientists and Project Leader at the Computer Networks Division of USC’s Information Sciences Institute, where he continues to serve. From its inception (in 1981) he was a member of Internet Activities Board (IAB) and served as IAB Executive Director for a half decade. He was long-term member and Chair of the End-to-End Task/Force Research Group (1984-2005). In these roles he made fundamental contributions to internet protocol standards. Braden is an ISI Fellow and an ACM Fellow.