Internet pioneer dies

PAUL BARAN, whose work with packaging data in the 1960s has been credited with playing a key role in the later development of the internet, has died.

His son, David, said his father died at his home in Palo Alto, California, on Saturday of complications from lung cancer. He was 84.

Baran is best known for the idea of “packet-switching”, in which data is bundled into small packages and sent through a network. He outlined the concept while working for the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica in 1963 and 1964.

Reports on the subject say the idea became a key concept the Department of Defence used in creating the Arpanet, the precursor to the internet.