Biography
of Les Earnest les at
cs.stanford.edu |
||
Les is More A web search shows about fifty Les
Earnests in world history. Ten are Lesters,
including my late father and me, and the rest are Leslies or similar, some
male and some female. Happily there have been no
More Earnests. MarianÕs and my merged family has five children, seven
grandchildren and six great grandchildren so far, being various combinations
of Eurasian, Yupick Eskimo, Filipino, WestAfrican and Puerto Rican. |
The importance of
being Earnest My patrilineal
great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather John
Wilhelm Ernst migrated from Southwest Germany to
Pennsylvania in the early 1700s.
About a century later his Pennsylvania Dutch descendants changed the family
name to Earnest. Like everyone of Eurasian descent IÕm part NeanderthalÑ2.6%
according to my DNA profileÑwhich perhaps helps explain my attitude. |
|
Academic 1988-present Senior Research Computer Scientist Emeritus, Stanford
University 1985-88 Associate Chair, Computer
Science Dept., Stanford University 1966-80,Õ85 -88 Lecturer in Computer Science, Stanford
University 1965-80 Executive officer, Stanford
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory 1960 MS in EE, MIT 1956-57 Staff Member, MIT
Lincoln Laboratory 1953 BS in EE, Caltech Corporate 1991-present Chairman, Board of Directors, GeoGroup Inc., Menlo Park, CA 1980-85 Founding President and Director,
Imagen Corp., Santa Clara, CA 1958-65 Subdepartment
Head, Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA & Arlington, VA Professional 1994-present Member, ASTM
International F08.53
Standards Committee (Headgear) 1964-present Member (now Life), IEEE 1955-present Member, ACM 1991-93: Member, Organizing and Advisory
Committees of first three Conferences on Computers, Freedom and
Privacy 1988-96 Member, American
National Standards Institute (ANSI)
Z90 Standards Committee (Helmets) 1980 Treasurer, First National Conference of American
Association for Artificial Intelligence 1974-76 Chairman, ACM
Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence (SIGART) 1973-77 Local Arrangements Chair and
Secretary-Treasurer, International Joint Conferences on
Artificial Intelligence 1960-80 Member, Sigma
Xi |
Innovations ROUT, the first search engine, 1961. First spelling checker, 1961. First successful cursive
handwriting recognizer, 1962. Hand-eye robot: initiated experimental system using
computer vision to control a mechanical arm, 1966-68. Autonomous road vehicle: initiated creation of vehicle with TV camera for visual guidance, 1966-69. Computer networking: member of ARPAnet startup committee, 1967-68. Created Finger, the first social networking program, which also allowed
individuals to post what are now called blogs, 1975. First computer-controlled vending
machine, called the
Prancing Pony, which sold on credit and offered buyers ÒDouble or nothingÓ,
1973. Modernized bicycle racing rules of U.S. Cycling Federation, 1978-99,
and FIAC, 1999-present. First desktop publishing system using
laser printers:
founded IMAGEN Corp., 1981. Bicycle racing drug control: wrote first regulations for USCF,
1984. Bicycle racing helmets: introduced USCF strong helmet rule that has since saved many lives, 1985. Modular software distribution: invented cryptographic scheme, U.S.
Patent 4,888,798, 1989. First roller skating helmet standards: ASTM standards, 1996, 1997, 2002. Family Married to former high school classmate
Marian Lofgren, PhD. Military Service 1953-56 U.S. Navy Aviation Electronics Officer
& Digital Computer Project Officer, Naval Air Development Center, Johnsville, PA. Consulting 1982-present Consultant and expert witness on the
history of computer technology and bicycle racing rules. |
Athletics 1933-present Avid cyclist. 1973-2000 Licensed racer. 1999-2015 Founding member of the
Federation of Independent Associations for Cycling (FIAC). 2004-2015 Executive
Director of FIAC. 1995-96 Founding Director and Secretary of USA
Cycling 1979-85
1987-99 Director of
U.S. Cycling Federation (USCF) 1984-99 UCI National Commissaire (bike race
official) 1984 Director of the Road, Olympic Games, Los Angeles 1980-85 Delegate to U.S.
Olympic Committee from
USCF 1979-99 Director and sometimes officer of U.S. Cycling Federation 1973-present Bicycle race official for local,
national and international events 1950-52 Caltech football offensive tackle &
defensive guard (All Conference, 1951) 1947 & 1949 Cross-country runner in
Hoover
High School, San
Diego, CA, & college 1946-49 Basketball manager in high
school, Louisville, KY
& college Film Actor Appear as a bike race official in American Flyers (1985), co-starring with Kevin Costner for 2.3 seconds. Community Service Mostly in the
Town of Los Altos Hills, CA 2012-2016 Traffic
Safety Committee 2008-2011 History Committee 2003-2006 Pathways Map Committee 1998-2000 Member & Chair, Santa Clara
County/VTA Bicycle Advisory Committee 1997-99 Member, Santa Clara County
Interjurisdictional Trails Committee 1993-99 Member & Chair, Pathways Committee 1986-97 Director & Chair, Mid-peninsula
Chapter of ACLU |