Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (1915-1990) was one of the most influential men in the history of computer science. In 1962, he became the head of a group at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which was to improve the military's use of computers. Licklider's influence from this position carried many of his visionary concepts through to fruition. Lick, as he preferred to be called, persevered through the scrutiny of the computer community throughout the 60's and 70's and brought time-sharing and networking capabilities to the forefront of computer technology and research. Licklider initiated the redirection of ARPA's funding from the private sector to universities. Before this funding was available, no universities granted a Ph.D. in Computer Science. Licklider helped establish such degree programs at four universites, which are still the leaders in the field: U.C. Berkeley, MIT, CMU, and Stanford. Anyone who could correctly predict that millions of people would be on-line over 30 years before it happened, despite the criticisms of his peers and the non-existence of any infrastructure to allow such a development, can only be described as a true visionary.

"Lick had a vision of a better way of computing. Once upon a time, to get a computer to do your bidding, you had to punch holes in paper cards or tapes, give the paper to someone who fed it to the machine, and then go away for hours or days. Lick believed we could do better and, more than any other single individual, saw to it that we did. For all his considerable influence on computing, Lick retained his modesty. He was the most unlikely "great man" you could ever encounter. His favorite kind of joke was one at his own expense. He was gentle, curious, and outgoing. " - Robert W. Taylor