Elizabeth Feinler

Elizabeth Feinler, 2018.

Elizabeth Feinler is an information scientist best known for creating and running the Network Information Center (NIC) for the ARPANET — the precursor to the modern Internet. The NIC provided the earliest Internet users with the support and reference materials needed to connect to the global network. These included the protocol handbook as well as directories of people, resources, and hosts which would later become the basis for the Internet’s WHOIS service. In addition, under Feinler, the NIC became the overall naming authority of the Internet, creating and managing the first domain name registries. She and her team created the top level domain naming scheme (.com, .edu, .gov, .org, etc.) that is still in use today.