Joyce K. Reynolds
Joyce Kathleen Reynolds (March 8, 1952 – December 28, 2015)[1] was an American computer scientist who played a significant role in developing protocols underlying the Internet.Template:Ref RFC She authored or co-authored many RFCs, most notably those introducing and specifying the Telnet,Template:Ref RFCTemplate:Ref RFCTemplate:Ref RFC FTP, and POPTemplate:Ref RFC protocols.[2]
Career
[edit | edit source]Reynolds held bachelor's and master's degrees in social sciences from the University of Southern California.[3]
From 1983 until 1998, she worked with Jon Postel to develop early functions of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, such as the global allocation of IP addresses, Autonomous System (AS) number allocation, and management of the root zone of the Domain Name System (DNS).[4] After Postel's death in 1998, Reynolds helped supervise the transition of the IANA functions to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.[4] She worked with ICANN in this role until 2001, while remaining an employee of ISI.[5]
From 1987 to 2006, she served on the editorial team of the Request for Comments series, co-leading the RFC Editor function at the ISI from 1998 until 2006.[6]
As Area Director of the User Services area, she was a member of the Internet Engineering Steering Group of the IETF from 1990 to March 1998.[7]
Death
[edit | edit source]Reynolds died due to complications from cancer on December 28, 2015, at the age of 63.[8]
Recognition
[edit | edit source]In 1992, she is mentioned in Template:Sum RFC along with a brief biography. With Bob Braden, she received the 2006 Postel Award, in recognition of her services to the Internet.[6] Upon her death, former IETF Chairman Brian Carpenter suggested that "What would Joyce have said?" should be a guiding question for the organization.[9]
In September 2025, Reynolds was inducted posthumously into the Internet Hall of Fame.[10]
Selected works
[edit | edit source]- Reynolds, J. K., Postel, J. B., Katz, A. R., Finn, G. G., & DeSchon, A. L. (1985). The DARPA experimental multimedia mail system. Computer, 18(10), 82-89.
- Postel, J. B., Finn, G. G., Katz, A. R., & Reynolds, J. K. (1988). An experimental multimedia mail system. ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), 6(1), 63-81.
- Template:Ref RFC
- Template:Ref RFC
- Reynolds, J. K. (1991). The helminthiasis of the Internet. Computer networks and ISDN systems, 22(5), 347-361.
- Template:Ref RFC
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "Joyce Kathleen Reynolds (1952-2015)". Find A Grave. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
- ↑ "RFC INDEX". www.rfc-editor.org. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ Malkin, G. "Who's Who in the Internet: Biographies of IAB, IESG and IRSG Members". tools.ietf.org. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Joyce Reynolds - ICANNWiki". icannwiki.org. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ Reynolds, Joyce (October 9, 2003). "[ih] Joyce K. Reynolds". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Bob Braden and Joyce K. Reynolds receive Postel Award | Internet Society". Internet Society. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ "IESG Past Members". IETF. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ "Joyce Reynolds". www.ietf.org. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ↑ Brian, Carpenter (December 31, 2015). ""Re: Joyce Reynolds"". IETF Mail Archive.
- ↑ "Internet Society Announces New Internet Hall of Fame Inductees". Internet Hall of Fame. Internet Society. Retrieved September 25, 2025.