Web 'changed way of life'
2008-01-17 14:02
Tokyo - Two key figures in the creation of the internet and a pioneer of genetics research were on Thursday named recipients of the Japan Prize, an annual award for contributions to science.
American scholars Vint Cerf and Robert E Kahn in the 1970s came up with the concept of TCP/IP protocols, which form the basis of the internet by connecting and arranging networks.
Cerf, 64, a former IBM researcher, is now vice president and "Chief Internet Evangelist" at search engine giant Google Inc.
Kahn, 69, formerly conducted research for the US military and now heads the non-profit Corporation for National Research Initiatives, which aims to advance information technology.
"The arrival of the internet has engendered a network society that has completely changed the way people live," said a statement announcing the Japan Prize recipients. "It has also altered world views and made enormous contributions to culture and society."
The third recipient of the award was Victor McKusick, 86, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who in the 1960s compiled a landmark database of genes involved with disease.
McKusick has since been a leading force in efforts to completely map out the human genome.
Emperor Akihito will present the award at an April 23 ceremony. McKusick will receive prize money of $465 000, while Cerf and Kahn will share the same amount.
The annual prize was launched in 1985 with support of the Japanese government and private sector.
Last year, the prize went to France's Albert Fert and Germany's Peter Gruenberg, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering a phenomenon called giant magnetoresistance, which is at the heart of computer hard drives.