Adrian V. Stokes

Adrian V Stokes (1945 – 2020) was a British computer scientist who was an Internet pioneer and worked on the first implementation of email in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

Education

Stokes earned a BSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at University College London (UCL) and he then went on to specialise in computer science.^[1][2]

Career

In 1973, whilst a research assistant at UCL's Institute of Computer Science, Stokes was involved with a research team led by Peter Kirstein who were working on ARPANET, the experimental computer network of the United States Department of Defense. ARPANET became the Internet in the mid-1970s, and one of Stokes' responsibilities was the first implementation of email in the United Kingdom,^[3][4] as well as early monitoring software for the interconnection of the ARPANET with British academic networks, the first international heterogenous computer network.^[5]

He contributed to a number of books on communication protocols and computer networking from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.^[6][7][8]

Personal life

Stokes was born on 25 June 1945 and died on 7 April 2020.^[2] He had spina bifida,^[1] and campaigned on behalf of people with disabilities for decades. He was the president of Disabled Motoring UK.^[9]

Awards and honours

Stokes was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to disabled people in 1983.^[1]

He was included on a Stanford University "Birth of the Internet" plaque, recognising him as an Internet pioneer.^[1]

See also

• Sylvia Wilbur