Joyce Kathleen Reynolds (March 8, 1952 – December 28, 2015) was an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (a ...

who played a significant role in developing protocols underlying the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

. She authored or co-authored many RFCs, most notably those introducing and specifying the

Telnet Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control i ...

, FTP, and

POP Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

protocols.

Career

Reynolds held bachelor's and master's degrees in social sciences from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. From 1983 until 1998, she worked with

Jon Postel Jonathan Bruce Postel (; August 6, 1943 – October 16, 1998) was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for bein ...

to develop early functions of the

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Inte ...

, 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). After Postel's death in 1998, Reynolds helped supervise the transition of the IANA functions to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. She worked with ICANN in this role until 2001, while remaining an employee of

ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...

. 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. As Area Director of the User Services area, she was a member of the Internet Engineering Steering Group of the

IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements an ...

from 1990 to March 1998.

Death

Reynolds died due to complications from cancer on December 28, 2015, at the age of 63.

Recognition

With

Bob Braden Robert Braden (28 January 1934 – 15 April 2018) was an American computer scientist who played a role in the development of the Internet. His research interests included end-to-end network protocols, especially in the transport and network laye ...

, she received the 2006 Postel Award in recognition of her services to the Internet. She is mentioned, along with a brief biography, in RFC 1336, ''Who's Who in the Internet'' (1992). Upon her death, former IETF Chairman Brian Carpenter suggested that "What would Joyce have said?" should be a guiding question for the organization.

Selected works

* 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. * Postel, J., & Reynolds, J. K. (1988). RFC1042: Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams over IEEE 802 networks. * Reynolds, J. K. (1989). RFC1135: Helminthiasis of the Internet. * Reynolds, J. K. (1991). The helminthiasis of the Internet. ''Computer networks and ISDN systems'', ''22''(5), 347-361. * Marine, A. N., Reynolds, J. K., & Malkin, G. S. (1994). FYI on Questions and Answers-Answers to Commonly asked" New Internet User" Questions. ''RFC'', ''1594'', 1-44.

References

External links

*
Page on the ICANNWiki

by

Steve Crocker Stephen D. Crocker (born October 15, 1944) is the inventor of the Request for Comments series, authoring the first RFC and many more. He attended Van Nuys High School, as did Vint Cerf and Jon Postel. Crocker received his bachelor's degree (1 ...