User:V1Cavalli/sandbox

Karel Vietsch (24/11/1952 – 23/02/2014) graduated from Leiden University in 1975 with a major in mathematics and minors in economics and theoretical computer science. He was a teacher and researcher at Leiden University, and obtained a PhD in mathematics in 1979. After doing military service in The Hague, sharing one computer with twenty other conscripts, he joined Delft University of Technology as manager of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

In 1984 he moved to the Science Policy Department of the Dutch Ministry of Education and Sciences, where he was involved in the implementation of the research part of the government’s Computer Science Promotion Plan, which included the creation of a national research network, SURFnet. Climbing through the ranks within the ministry he became Head of Unit for Information and Infrastructure in 1992, whereafter in 1996 he joined TERENA as Secretary-General.

Karel had been TERENA’s Secretary General from March 1996 until March 2012, when illness prevented him from fulfilling his duties. In spite of this illness, Karel continued to show a strong attention to TERENA activities, providing information and support to the Secretariat staff and occasionally engaging with the wider community.

Karel Vietsch, has been honoured with a royal decoration for his outstanding contribution to research and education networking and the Internet in general.

Appointed an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, Karel was presented with the Dutch royal insignia by the Vice-Mayor and Alderman of Leiden, Mr. Robert Strijk, during a private ceremony on Monday 13 May.

From the Dutch Ministry of Education and Sciences, where for a time he headed the Department of Information and Infrastructure, helped to create the Dutch NREN SURFnet and represented the Netherlands in the COSINE (Co-operation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) project’s Policy Group, Karel moved to TERENA as Secretary General in 1996. In this role he contributed to the blossoming of RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre) as an independent organisation, participated in ENPG (European Networking Policy Group) and CCIRN (Co-ordinating Committee for Inter-continental Research), played multiple roles in successive generations of the GÉANT project and was an observer in the DANTE Board of Directors, as well as helping to set up Internet security activities in Europe and fostering collaboration in research and education networking in Europe in other ways.