Biography of Les Earnest les at cs.stanford.edu
Les is more According to family genealogies and Google there have been just two Les Earnests in world history. One was my father, Lester Elvin Earnest, 1906-2001, and the other is me, Lester Donald Earnest, 1930+. Happily there have been no More Earnests.	Les Earnest on Greenspeed X5	The importance of being Earnest My patrilineal great-great-great- great-great-great-grandfather John Wilhelm Ernst migrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. A century later his Pennsylvania Dutch grandchildren changed the family name to Earnest. Most modern Earnests are relatives
Academic 1988-present Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, Stanford University 1985-88 Associate Chair, Computer Science Dept., Stanford University 1966-80,’85 -87 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 1989-present Reviewer, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 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	Some Publications Innovations First spelling checker, 1961 First successful cursive writing recognizer, 1962. Hand-eye robot: initiated experimental system using computer vision to control a mechanical arm, 1966-68. Robot vehicle: initiated creation of vehicle with TV camera for visual guidance, 1966-69. Computer networking: member of ARPAnet startup committee, 1967-68. Created Internet FINGER, a utility program for locating people that also allowed them to post what are now called blogs, 1973. First computer-controlled vending machine, called the Prancing Pony, which sold on credit and offered buyers “Double or nothing”, 1973. Modernized bicycle racing rules of U.S. Cycling Federation, 1978-99, and FIAC, 2003-present. First desktop publishing system using laser printers: started 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, with three children, two stepchildren, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren so far. Military Service 1953-56 U.S. Navy Aviation Electronics Officer & Digital Computer Project Officer, NADC, Johnsville, PA. Consulting 1982-present Consultant and expert witness on the history of computer technology and bicycle racing rules.	Bicycle Racing Journal Athletics 2004-present Executive Director, Federation of Independent Associations for Cycling (FIAC) 1937-present Avid bicyclist, licensed racer since 1973 1999-present Selection Committee, U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame 1999-2004 Founding member, Director and Treasurer of FIAC 1995-96 Founding Director and Secretary of USA Cycling 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 high school & college 1946-49 Basketball manager in high school & college Film Actor Appear as a bike race official in American Flyers (1985), co-starring with Kevin Costner for 2.3 seconds Community Service 2003-present Pathways Map Committee, Town of Los Altos Hills, CA 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, Town of Los Altos Hills 1986-97 Director & Chair, Mid-peninsula Chapter of ACLU