[7] A Moment of Silence for Michael Muuss [Editor's note: The following appeared on the IFWP and Netizens mailing lists.] Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 16:54:56 -0500 (EST) From: Joe Baptista Subject: [IFWP] a moment of silence for Mike Muuss - confirmation? a moment of silence as we honour a network great. I-95 Accident claims life Churchville, Md - (AP) A double accident Monday night on Interstate 95 in Harford County killed a Havre de Grace man. State police say 42-year-old Michael Muuss died when his car hit a vehicle left partially in the road after the first crash. Muuss' car then spun into the path of a tractor-trailer, which pushed him into a vehicle stopped on the right shoulder to help victims of the earlier crash. The truck driver was taken to Harford Memorial Hospital. The accidents occurred about 9:30 pm on the northbound side of the highway in Churchville. The first involved two cars and a tractor-trailer. A driver in that crash was treated at Harford Memorial and released. Police say it's not clear why either accident occurred. No one has been charged, but the investigation is continuing. Traffic was able to get by for most of the night, but it took until 2 am before all lanes were opened. > From: Sean Donelan Subject: The author of PING is reported dead > > Since many network operators consider PING as > one of their essential tools, I thought this would be > of interest to the list. > I haven't been able to confirm this, but I haven't been able to > reach Mike. > > Forwarded message: > > Subject: The Creator of Ping is dead... > > > > Mike Muuss, the author of the PING program used > > on networks everywhere, died last night in a traffic > > accident on U.S. route 95 in Maryland. He was an > > alumnus of Johns Hopkins (BS1978 or 1979 I think). > > Funeral arrangements have not been made yet, but > > I'll probably be going back to Maryland almost > > immediately to attend. > > http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/ping.html ------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 15:20:45 -0500 (EST) From: ronda@panix.com Subject: Re: [netz] Fwd: A moment of silence for Mike Muuss It was with a real sense of loss that I read the notice that Joe Pistritto posted on a mailing list last Tuesday. > Subject: Re: IP: With great sadness: Mike Muuss has passed on > Cc: jcp@jcphome.com > > "Joseph C. Pistritto" wrote: > > Last night (Monday), Mike Muuss, famous for > creating the PING program as well as BRL-CAD, > died in a traffic accident at 11pm on U.S. highway 95 > near Aberdeen, Maryland. He was going home from > work at the time. Mike worked his entire career at > the Army Research Laboratories in Aberdeen > Maryland, and was a specialist in first networking, > then solid modeling. Many in the SIGGRAPH > community will know of him because of the > BRL-CAD package that he authored (with others > later) and his animation work which was shown at > several SIGGRAPH conferences. I wanted to add: It is indeed very sad to hear of this great loss to the networking community. There is another important contribution of Mike's to the development of the Internet. He created and moderated the ARPANET TCP/IP Digest which helped in making the cutover from NCP to TCP/IP on the ARPANET in January 1983. The TCP/IP Digest provided a forum in which to discuss the problems that those who were to do the cutover identified so they could be solved. The cutover set the basis for the creation of the Internet as a meta-network of diverse networks. After the cutover, the ARPANET was split into MILNET, an operational network for the DoD, and the ARPANET, a research network. These two different networks were able to communicate using TCP/IP. And that is some of the basis of the Internet as we know it today. A while ago, I wrote a paper about the role the TCP/IP Digest played in the cutover online. The URL is http://umcc.ais.org/~ronda/new.papers/tcpdraft.txt In the research I have done about the early ARPANET mailing lists, Mike's role in contributing to the networking and UNIX communities stands out. His efforts helped to connect these two pioneering communities. He will indeed be missed. Ronda ronda@panix.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 10 No 2 Spring 2001. The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email. Send a request to jrh@ais.org or see http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------