Following the Internet Society’s announcement about the 2021 Internet Hall of Fame inductees, GÉANT would like to offer its congratulations to all the inductees, and particularly to Jan Gruntorád of CESNET, a key member of the GÉANT community who served on the Board of Directors of DANTE and is a recipient of the Vietsch Foundation Medal, and Frode Greisen, the former EARN President, who was elected the very first President of TERENA.
Of the 2021 inductees, the Internet Society stated, “Hailing from around the world, this year’s inductees were crucial to the design, development, operation, and advancement of the earliest networks, and were responsible for advocating and expanding those networks in regions across the globe, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.”
- Jan Gruntorád (Czech Republic) was an early champion of international networking for research and development in Czechoslovakia, initiating the country’s connection to the European Academic and Research Network (EARN) in the first half of 1990 and, shortly after, establishing CESNET, the Czech Education and Scientific Network.
- Frode Greisen (Denmark) helped found the European Internet backbone Ebone, considered Europe’s original Internet, and played an important role in the expansion of the network across Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Iran.
Jan and Frode follow other notable Research and Education Network community members who have been recognised for their contributions, including but not limited to Dai Davies, Erik Huizer, Klaas Wierenga, and Kees Neggers.
GÉANT would like to congratulate all 2021 inductees, the full list of whom can be found here.
See also:
The Internet Society https://www.internetsociety.org/
The Internet Hall of Fame https://www.internethalloffame.org
