A legend in his own time —
Benj Edwards
– Jan 19, 2024 8:05 pm UTC
Enlarge / A photo of David L. Mills taken by Raul654 on April 27, 2005.
On Thursday, Internet pioneer Vint Cerf announced that Dr. David L. Mills, the inventor of Network Time Protocol (NTP), died peacefully at age 85 on January 17, 2024. The announcement came in a post on the Internet Society mailing list after Cerf was informed of David’s death by Mills’ daughter, Leigh.
“He was such an iconic element of the early Internet,” wrote Cerf.
Dr. Mills created NTP in 1985 to address crucial challenge in the online world: the synchronization of time across different computer systems and networks. NTP provides the solution by allowing clocks of computers over a network to synchronize to a common time source. This synchronization is vital for everything from data integrity to network security. For example, NTP keeps network financial transaction timestamps accurate, and it ensures accurate and synchronized timestamps for logging and monitoring network activities. As detailed in a New Yorker profile by Nate Hopper, Mills faced significant challenges in maintaining and evolving the protocol, especially as the Internet grew in scale and complexity. His work highlighted the often under-appreciated role of key open source software developers. Due to difficulties with his sight, Mills turned over control of the protocol to Harlan Stenn in the 2000s. Mills was widely recognized for his work, » …
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