Kleinrock, Leonard, 1934–, American computer scientist, b. New York City, B.E.E. City College of New York (1957), Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1963). Moving to the Univ. of California at Los Angeles, he became a professor of engineering and later computer science and founded the Network Measurement Center (NMC). An important contributor to the field of computer networking, he wrote Communication Nets (1964), which was used (1966) by Lawrence Roberts of the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the development of ARPAnet, a precursor to the Internet. ARPAnet used packet switching, a distributive type of network design that remains an essential part of the Internet. In 1969 Kleinrock directed the first ever sending of a message over ARPAnet. In the late 1970s he pioneered work in hierarchical routing in networks. He cofounded Nomadix, which manufactures devices for Internet access in public places, in 1996.
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