Shelly Mendieta
@shellmend.bsky.social
Retired Air Force Officer, Veteran Health Advocate, Preserver of Legacy
Radia Perlman truly is the Mother of the Internet. Her work was foundational and her approach remains relevant today. She continues to solve emerging challenges. She is steadfast and deserves to be celebrated.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Radia Perlman truly is the Mother of the Internet. Her work was foundational and her approach remains relevant today. She continues to solve emerging challenges. She is steadfast and deserves to be celebrated.
As a woman who flew fighters in the Air Force, I am always fascinated by women who excel in predominantly male fields - How they adapt, how they are treated and valued, how their accomplishments are or are not recognized, and how they persevere or are pushed out.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
As a woman who flew fighters in the Air Force, I am always fascinated by women who excel in predominantly male fields - How they adapt, how they are treated and valued, how their accomplishments are or are not recognized, and how they persevere or are pushed out.
To Perlman, “The kind of diversity that I think really matters isn’t skin shade or body shape but different ways of thinking”. Women’s work in computing has been devalued and unrecorded. This means that we lose different perspectives and approaches to solving problems.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
To Perlman, “The kind of diversity that I think really matters isn’t skin shade or body shape but different ways of thinking”. Women’s work in computing has been devalued and unrecorded. This means that we lose different perspectives and approaches to solving problems.
In 2014, Radia Perlman was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame and into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016. She also received lifetime achievement awards from USENIX and the Association for Computing Machinery’s SIGCOMM.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
In 2014, Radia Perlman was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame and into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016. She also received lifetime achievement awards from USENIX and the Association for Computing Machinery’s SIGCOMM.
The tides are shifting. Radia achieved Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems. She developed more than 100 patents and her work in network security is as significant as STP. She is a fellow at Dell Technologies, and has taught at Harvard, MIT, and the University of Washington.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
The tides are shifting. Radia achieved Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems. She developed more than 100 patents and her work in network security is as significant as STP. She is a fellow at Dell Technologies, and has taught at Harvard, MIT, and the University of Washington.
Send an email, connect to the internet, stream videos – Thank Perlman. As a woman, her work was often dismissed. She would present a solution, only for the community to keep asking for a solution. Her work is technical and behind the scenes, so it was easy to overlook & minimize her contributions.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Send an email, connect to the internet, stream videos – Thank Perlman. As a woman, her work was often dismissed. She would present a solution, only for the community to keep asking for a solution. Her work is technical and behind the scenes, so it was easy to overlook & minimize her contributions.
Within 5 days she had documented STP entirely and spent the rest of the week on her poem, “Algorhyme.” STP is foundational. Instead of networks that were limited to a few hundred nodes in a single building, hundreds of thousands of computers could be supported around the world.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Within 5 days she had documented STP entirely and spent the rest of the week on her poem, “Algorhyme.” STP is foundational. Instead of networks that were limited to a few hundred nodes in a single building, hundreds of thousands of computers could be supported around the world.
Her STP solution was simple and elegant – algorithms that organize network connections with a single pathway between two points, like a tree, with back-ups incase the primary way fails. It was so simple the engineers tasked to build it did not have any questions.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Her STP solution was simple and elegant – algorithms that organize network connections with a single pathway between two points, like a tree, with back-ups incase the primary way fails. It was so simple the engineers tasked to build it did not have any questions.
THE SPANNING TREE PROTOCOL (STP). After moving to DEC, Radia was presented the challenge on a Friday of solving how to connect multiple networks without loops that would crash the system. The expectation was it would take weeks or months to solve, she solved it overnight.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
THE SPANNING TREE PROTOCOL (STP). After moving to DEC, Radia was presented the challenge on a Friday of solving how to connect multiple networks without loops that would crash the system. The expectation was it would take weeks or months to solve, she solved it overnight.
After graduating, Radia Perlman joined BBN as they were helping develop ARPANET. Radia developed robust algorithms to endure data packets could find their way through complex networks without getting lost or endless circling.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
After graduating, Radia Perlman joined BBN as they were helping develop ARPANET. Radia developed robust algorithms to endure data packets could find their way through complex networks without getting lost or endless circling.
At MIT’s AI lab, she developed a programming system for kids as young as three. Her ability to make complex systems accessible would become a defining principle of her career and influence education for decades.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
At MIT’s AI lab, she developed a programming system for kids as young as three. Her ability to make complex systems accessible would become a defining principle of her career and influence education for decades.
Radia's parents were both engineers and valued learning and curiosity over gender norms. When she entered MIT in 1969, there were only 50 women in a class of 1000 and MIT limited the number of women who could attend by the capacity of a single dormitory. To her, it became weird to see another woman.
January 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Radia's parents were both engineers and valued learning and curiosity over gender norms. When she entered MIT in 1969, there were only 50 women in a class of 1000 and MIT limited the number of women who could attend by the capacity of a single dormitory. To her, it became weird to see another woman.
ARPA solved problems that the military refers to as “DARPA hard.” After ARPANET, we never looked back. Those who made the internet did extraordinary work & these women inspire girls, women, & all those who learn about their accomplishments to do hard things. We must tell their stories with the rest.
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
ARPA solved problems that the military refers to as “DARPA hard.” After ARPANET, we never looked back. Those who made the internet did extraordinary work & these women inspire girls, women, & all those who learn about their accomplishments to do hard things. We must tell their stories with the rest.
Remember the women IHOF Inductees? They are Andres, Baker, Banks, Breeden, Claffy, Lowinder, Esterhuysen, Estrada, Feinler, Gerich, Hafkin, Holz, Hu, Hubbard, Kanchanasut, Dorcas Muthoni, Parket, Perlman, Armour Polly, Reynolds, Tarouco, Travers, & Zhang. www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/all/
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Remember the women IHOF Inductees? They are Andres, Baker, Banks, Breeden, Claffy, Lowinder, Esterhuysen, Estrada, Feinler, Gerich, Hafkin, Holz, Hu, Hubbard, Kanchanasut, Dorcas Muthoni, Parket, Perlman, Armour Polly, Reynolds, Tarouco, Travers, & Zhang. www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/all/
More recently, Caterina Fake co-founded Flickr. Mitchell Baker developed Mozilla Firefox and paved the way for open source software. Rashmi Sinha co-founded SlideShare. Before she was the CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer began with Google Search, News, Images, & Chrome. www.hongkiat.com/blog/women-c...
9 Women Who Changed How We Use The Internet
Diversity in tech companies is one of the hottest topics in cyberspace now and shows no sign of dying down. This is mainly prompted by the biggest tech
www.hongkiat.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
More recently, Caterina Fake co-founded Flickr. Mitchell Baker developed Mozilla Firefox and paved the way for open source software. Rashmi Sinha co-founded SlideShare. Before she was the CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer began with Google Search, News, Images, & Chrome. www.hongkiat.com/blog/women-c...
Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler managed ARPANET and the Defense Data Network (DDN) Network Information Centers (NIC). Her team developed the first query-based network host name server as well as the top-level domain-naming conventions we use today. www.internethalloffame.org/inductee/eli...
Elizabeth Feinler - Internet Hall of Fame
Elizabeth Feinler pioneered and managed first the ARPANET, and then the Defense Data Network (DDN), network information centers (NIC).
www.internethalloffame.org
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler managed ARPANET and the Defense Data Network (DDN) Network Information Centers (NIC). Her team developed the first query-based network host name server as well as the top-level domain-naming conventions we use today. www.internethalloffame.org/inductee/eli...
Then there’s Radia Perlman, a member of the IHOF and National Inventors Hall of Fame who is considered the Mother of the Internet. She created the spanning-tree protocol that bridges computer networks so they can share information.
www.invent.org/inductees/ra...
www.invent.org/inductees/ra...
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Then there’s Radia Perlman, a member of the IHOF and National Inventors Hall of Fame who is considered the Mother of the Internet. She created the spanning-tree protocol that bridges computer networks so they can share information.
www.invent.org/inductees/ra...
www.invent.org/inductees/ra...
Ever wonder why we call it “debugging?” You can thank Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, who pulled a literal moth out of a machine. When others said it couldn't be done, in 1956, her team ran the first programming language to use words rather than symbols. president.yale.edu/biography-gr...
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Ever wonder why we call it “debugging?” You can thank Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, who pulled a literal moth out of a machine. When others said it couldn't be done, in 1956, her team ran the first programming language to use words rather than symbols. president.yale.edu/biography-gr...
Here are some of the women who made the internet possible or what it is today. Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer in the 1800s and the first to express the idea that computers had potential beyond mathematics. www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adal... & www.britannica.com/biography/Ad...
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Here are some of the women who made the internet possible or what it is today. Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer in the 1800s and the first to express the idea that computers had potential beyond mathematics. www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adal... & www.britannica.com/biography/Ad...
Then I found whomadetheinternet.com. 196 people who made the internet into the global platform we all use today. Only 11 are women. This led me to the 152 Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) inductees; yep, there’s an IHOF. 21 inductees are women. Still, no RADM Grace Hopper.
www.internethalloffame.org
www.internethalloffame.org
Home Who Made the Internet
Meet the real people who turned the Internet from a research dream into the global human communication platform we have access to today.
whomadetheinternet.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Then I found whomadetheinternet.com. 196 people who made the internet into the global platform we all use today. Only 11 are women. This led me to the 152 Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) inductees; yep, there’s an IHOF. 21 inductees are women. Still, no RADM Grace Hopper.
www.internethalloffame.org
www.internethalloffame.org
I thought, where are RADM Grace Hopper and the other women who made the internet possible? www.popularmechanics.com/culture/web/...
The Internet Wouldn't Be the Same Without These 11 Women
Neither would our world.
www.popularmechanics.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
I thought, where are RADM Grace Hopper and the other women who made the internet possible? www.popularmechanics.com/culture/web/...