David Boggs is well-known for helping to develop the Ethernet protocol. (Image Credit: Wiki, Xerox)
Heroes of modern electronics are passing away. We lost another recently.
David Boggs, electrical engineer, computer scientist, and co-inventor of the Ethernet, passed away at 71 years old on February 19th, 2022, at Stanford Hospital due to heart failure. In spring 1973, Boggs started an internship at Xerox PARC, where he met Bob Metcalfe, a researcher working on the lab’s Alto personal computer and a strand of cable. At the time, Metcalfe attempted to figure out how to transfer data to and from the Alto but failed to make it work.
Boggs then offered to help with this task. Over the next two years, the researchers successfully developed the Ethernet protocol, allowing electronic systems to communicate with each other. However, speeds only reached 2.94 Mbps over a coaxial cable at the time. It also used ideas from the ALOHAnet wireless network system, which was developed at the University of Hawaii.
Even though it’s not the internet, Ethernet became the industry standard in the 80s and 90s for creating networks in corporate offices and homes. Now, wireless networks rely on parts of the Ethernet protocol that can connect to Ethernet hardware.
(Image credit: Xerox PARC)
Before starting at Stanford, where he acquired a master’s and Ph.D., Boggs earned his electrical engineering bachelor’s degree at Princeton University. Boggs also developed ham radios after he saved enough money for a radio operator’s license. This allowed him to communicate with other operators across the country. Boggs also helped develop the PARC Universal Packet protocol architecture. He won the IEEE Computer Society technical achievement award in 1988.