Professor Leonard Kleinrock

Professor Leonard Kleinrock is director of the UCLA Connection Lab and distinguished professor of computer science at UCLA. He developed the mathematical theory of packet networks, the technology underpinning the internet, while a graduate student at MIT in the period from 1960-1962. The birth of the internet occurred in his UCLA laboratory (3420 Boelter Hall) when his host computer became the first node of the internet in September 1969, and it was from there that he directed the transmission of the first message to pass over the internet on October 29, 1969.

Dr. Kleinrock chaired the 1988 National Research Council report that recommended an upgrade of the U.S. computer network infrastructure. Among his many honors, he received the 2007 National Medal of Science for fundamental mathematical contributions to internet technology. In 2018, Dr. Kleinrock founded the Connection Lab to further advance global connectivity.