Portrait of Jon Postel

Birthday profile

Jon Postel

Jon Postel, American computer scientist and academic (died 1998)

Born
August 6, 1943
Died
October 16, 1998
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1943

About Jon Postel

Jonathan Bruce Postel 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 being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death. Between 1982 and 1984 Postel co-authored the RFCs which became the foundation of today's DNS (RFC 819, RFC 881, RFC 882 and RFC 920) which were joined in 1995 by RFC 1591 which he also co-wrote. The award has been presented most years since 1999 by the Internet Society to "honor a person who has made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community." The first recipient of the award was Postel himself, posthumously.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Jon Postel timeline

  1. Between 1982 and 1984 Postel co-authored the RFCs which became the foundation of today's DNS (RFC 819, RFC 881, RFC 882 and RFC 920) which were joined in 1995 by RFC 1591 which he also co-wrote.
  2. The award has been presented most years since 1999 by the Internet Society to "honor a person who has made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community." The first recipient of the award was Postel himself, posthumously.

The world when Jon Postel was born

Jon Postel was born in 1943. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1943

  • #1 song"As Time Goes By" – Dooley Wilson
  • Top movieFor Whom the Bell Tolls
  • Best-selling bookThe Robe – Lloyd C. Douglas

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League founded
  • Top headlineAllies invade Italy
  • Technology milestoneLSD accidentally discovered by Albert Hofmann
  • Defining fadZoot suits
  • Notable inventionSlinky
  • World population2.38 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population136.7M

1943 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jon Postel's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19432026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$5,700$435,000
Average income$4,100$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.27$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population136.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.