The Internet Society has inducted eight influential figures into the Internet Hall of Fame, recognizing their vital contributions to the development and governance of the Internet. The ceremony took place online on September 17, 2025, celebrating visionaries whose work has profoundly impacted the global connectivity landscape.
Meet the 2025 Inductees
This year’s inductees hail from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, illustrating the collaborative spirit that has shaped the Internet. Among those honored is Ram Mohan, a champion for universal access. Mohan played a pivotal role in transitioning the Internet from ASCII to Unicode, allowing billions of non-English speakers to engage with their native languages online. His efforts laid the groundwork for multilingual Internet access, significantly enhancing inclusivity.
Another notable inductee, Hyunje Park, emerged as a key figure in Internet engineering. Park registered the first Korean IP address in 1986 and developed Asia’s first IPv4 network. His tenacity during the 1997 Asian financial crisis led to the swift deployment of high-speed Internet across Korea, transforming the nation’s digital landscape in just eight months.
Kirk Lougheed co-created the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is essential for Internet routing. His innovative ideas, sketched on napkins during a lunch meeting in 1989, allowed the Internet to grow from a handful of networks to billions of interconnected systems today. BGP is often referred to as the “postal service of the Internet,” underscoring its critical role in global connectivity.
Advocacy for Internet infrastructure advancement has marked the career of Dong Liu. His dedication to enhancing Internet capacity is evident through his work on global IPv6 deployment and establishing the world’s largest IPv6 testing laboratory. Liu’s contributions facilitate the rapid and affordable access of mobile devices and smart technologies to the Internet.
Pioneering interoperability, Patrik Fältström advanced the use of special characters in domain names and email addresses. His work on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) has enabled seamless communication across multiple languages and devices. Fältström also contributed to email attachment standards, enhancing file sharing across different systems.
The late John S. Quarterman, known as the “Internet Cartographer,” documented the early expansion of the Internet through detailed network maps and seminal publications. His influential 1994 work, “Matrix Maps,” inspired significant technological developments, including the launch of Amazon by Jeff Bezos.
Posthumously recognized, Dr. Tarek Kamel earned the title of “Father of the Internet” in Egypt for his dedication to bringing Internet access to the region. His multistakeholder approach to governance established a collaborative framework that shaped Egypt’s digital future.
Also posthumously honored, Joyce Reynolds played a crucial role in developing the Request for Comments (RFC) system, which serves as the foundational documentation for the Internet. Her organizational efforts ensured that over 9,000 RFCs exist today, underpinning countless digital communications.
A Legacy of Innovation and Collaboration
Sally Wentworth, President & CEO of the Internet Society, remarked on the inductees’ enduring impact: “These Internet pioneers sparked new ideas and persevered even when the conditions were unfavorable to them. They didn’t just create protocols and standards; they created a culture of open innovation where the next great idea could come from anyone, anywhere in the world.”
The Internet Hall of Fame celebrates individuals who have significantly advanced the Internet through technical contributions, leadership, and their lasting influence on global connectivity. The Internet Society, founded in 1992, remains committed to ensuring that the Internet is accessible and beneficial for all, fostering an environment where innovation can thrive.
