3. Early Life and Education
"The world would be a better place if more engineers, like me,
hated technology. The stuff I design, if I’m successful, nobody
will ever notice. Things will just work and will be self-
managing."
1951
Born in Portsmouth,
Virginia to engineer
parents.
1973
Received her
bachelor’s degree in
Mathematics from
MIT.
1976
Continued her
studies to obtain
her master’s degree
in Mathematics.
1984
Invented the STP
(Spanning Tree
Protocol).
1988
Received her PhD in
Computer Science
from MIT.
2002
Invented the TRILL
Protocol.
4. Career and Contributions
“Design it so that people will naturally use it.”
• Invented the STP Protocol (Spanning Tree
Protocol).
• Invented the TRILL Protocol (Transparent
Interconnection of Lots of Links) to correct
shortcomings of her previous works.
• Holds over 100 issued patents.
• Elected to the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014,
and to National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016.
5. References
• Cellitioci, J. (2016, June 30). Engineer, Poet,
Pianist, Inventor, Innovator: Radia Perlman.
HuffPost. Retrieved from
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/engineer-poet-
pianist-inv_b_10716800
• Rosen, R. J. (2014, March 3). Radia Perlman:
Don’t Call Me the Mother of the Internet. The
Atlantic. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/
2014/03/radia-perlman-dont-call-me-the-mother-
of-the-internet/284146/
