Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet’s Precursor, Dies at 81 (New York Times)

The New York Times reportsthe death of Dr. Lawrence G. Roberts, who was heavily involved inArpanet. "Dr. Roberts was considered the decisive force behind packetswitching, the technology that breaks data into discrete bundles that arethen sent along various paths around a network and reassembled at theirdestination. He decided to use packet switching as the underlyingtechnology of the Arpanet; it remains central to the function of theinternet." (Thanks to Paul Wise.)