Robert W. Taylor, 85, a Woodside resident for 34 years and a visionary in the development of computer networks and modern personal computing, died Thursday, April 13, of complications of Parkinson’s disease, his son Kurt told the New York Times.
Mr. Taylor was instrumental in the formation of a computer network at the famed Advanced Research Projects Agency for the Department of Defense in the 1960s, and during the 1970s led a computer lab at the equally famous center of innovation, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).
As head of a new research center in Palo Alto for Digital Equipment Corp., Mr. Taylor was involved in the development of technologies that led to digital books, modern workstations, and the Java programming language.
In recognition of his achievements, Mr. Taylor was awarded in 1999 the National Medal of Technology and in 2004, the Charles Stark Draper Prize, the highest award of the National Academy of Engineering.
In 2013, he was inducted into the Computer History Museum Hall of Fellows.
Go to is.gd/Taylor22 to see an online version of this story with links to much more information, including a major story about Mr. Taylor, written by Almanac staff writer Marion Softky.
