John Gage

For other people named John Gage, seeJohn Gage (disambiguation).

John Burdette Gage(born October 9, 1942) is a retired computer scientist and technology executive. He was the 21st employee ofSun Microsystems,where he is credited with creating the phraseThe Network is the Computer.He served as Sun's vice president and chief researcher and director of the Science Office,until leaving on June 9, 2008, to joinKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byersas a partner to work on green technologies forglobal warming;he departed KPCB in 2010 to apply what he had learned "to broader issues in other parts of the world".

John Gage
John Gage in October 2004
Born	John Burdette Gage (1942-10-09)October 9, 1942 Long Beach, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley Harvard Kennedy School Harvard Business School Newport Harbor High School Alliance Française
Known for	VP at Sun Co-founder ofNetDay,JavaOne
Spouse	Linda Schacht Gage
Awards	ACM Computing,Computerworld Smithsonian Award,Federal Networking
Scientific career
Fields	Computer science,water
Institutions	Sun Microsystems,Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers,Markle Foundation,Human Needs Project

In 2006, he joined the board of theTegla LoroupePeace Foundation, to build a school and orphanage inKapenguria,in remote north-westKenya.

In 2012, he helped build the Kibera Town Centre, a major water and community education center in the middle ofKibera,Kenya, the largest slum inAfrica.

He is known as one of the co-founders ofNetDayin 1995, a crowd-sourced effort to bring the Internet to every school in the world. NetDay was the first large-scale crowd-sourced mass movement on the Internet. He joined theHuman Needs Projectin 2012 to build a networked water source and water treatment plant in the Kibera slum inNairobi,Kenya.

For twelve years he hosted the annualJavaOneconference, bringing 20,000 Java programmers toSan Franciscoand establishing the Java language in over 95% of mobile devices, and as the basis of theAndroidoperating system.

Background

Gage received hisbachelor's degreein 1975 from theCollege of Natural Resourcesat theUniversity of California, Berkeley.He also attendedHarvard Kennedy SchoolandHarvard Business School.Gage worked at Berkeley withBill Joy,the person largely responsible for the authorship of BerkeleyUNIX,also known asBSD,from which spring many modern forms of UNIX, includingSolaris,FreeBSD,NetBSD,andOpenBSD.Gage helped foundSun Microsystemsin 1982 withBill Joyand others.

Gage is one of the central figures in Mark Kitchell's filmBerkeley in the Sixties,recounting Berkeley'sFree Speech Movement.He appears inAmerican Stories: the American Dream: A Future Reborn 1918–1945,a five-part Discovery Channel documentary produced by Atlantic Productions.

In June 2008, Gage retired from Sun Microsystems and joinedKleiner Perkinsas a venture capitalist along withAl Gore.He left Kleiner Perkins in 2010.

Gage has served on scientific advisory panels for the USNational Research Council,the USNational Academy of Sciences,the United Nations, the World Bank, and theWorld Economic Forum.

He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Web Based Education Commission in 2000.

He served on theUS National Academy of SciencesCommittee on Scientific Communication and National Security and on theMarkle FoundationTask Force on National Security, whose reports aided in reorganizing US intelligence agencies after theSeptember 11 attacks.He has served on the boards of theUS National Library of Medicine,ofFermiLab,the BerkeleyMathematical Sciences Research Institute,and other scientific and educational groups.

Currently he serves on the Malaysian International Advisory Panel, the Malaysian Global Science Advisory Panel and on the advisory boards of the University of California, Berkeley,Goldman School of Public Policy,theOxford Martin Schoolfor the Twenty-first Century, the Center for Information Technology in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) atBerkeley,and ofLiquid Robotics,who build unmanned ocean surface robots. He is on the boards of theTegla Loroupe Peace Foundationin Nairobi, theHuman Needs Project,andRelief International,an international humanitarian disaster relief organization.

Early life

Gage was born on October 9, 1942, in Long Beach, California. His father was James Robert Gage, born in Woodville, East Texas, and president of the UCLA Class of 1935, captain in the United States Navy, and senior manager for Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, then for McDonnell Douglas Aerospace in Seal Beach. His mother was Harriet Doris Burdette, born in Hollywood, California, whose grandfather crossed the Panama Isthmus to arrive in California in 1848. She taught in the Los Angeles school district. He has two siblings, James Collier Gage of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Laurie Gage, chief veterinarian for theMarine Mammal Centerin Marin County, and US Department of Agriculturebig catand marine mammal expert.

Education

Gage was educated at Gardner Street Elementary School and LeConte Junior High School in Hollywood, California. In 1956, the family moved to Newport Beach, California. Gage attended Ensign Middle School and Newport Harbor High School, where he was student body president, All-American swimmer, and National Merit Scholar. He received the Harvard Book Award, and graduated in 1960.

Gage entered the University of California, Berkeley, in the fall of 1960, in Honors Mathematics. In 1961, he entered the Alliance Française in Paris, then studied at the Université de Paris. Returning to Berkeley, he became deeply involved in the Free Speech Movement, as documented inBerkeley in the Sixties.He created the firstCommunity Projects Officefor the Associated Students of the University of California, placing over 2,000 students in volunteer roles in schools and community organizations in Oakland and Berkeley.

He was a three-time All-American swimmer and Pacific Coast champion in the 100-yard breaststroke. He played on the Pacific Coast champion water polo team. He was a member of the Order of the Golden Bear and the Big C Society. In 1968, he joined six other students from California on the delegation assembled by Speaker of the California Assembly, Jesse Unruh, as aRobert F. Kennedydelegate to the Chicago Democratic Convention.

In the fall of 1968, after the Democratic Convention in Chicago, he entered the Harvard Business School. After one year, he transferred to Harvard Kennedy School. He took leave to work on theGeorge McGovernpresidential campaign. After the McGovern campaign, he returned to the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his bachelor's degree in 1975, and entered the Ph.D. program in Mathematical Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He left the Ph.D. program in 1982 to help found Sun Microsystems along with a few others.

Political activity

Following the Free Speech Movement, Gage became active in opposing the war in Vietnam. He worked on theRobert Scheerfor Congress campaign in 1966, almost defeating a Democratic congressman who supported the war. He co-chaired the Robert F. Kennedy for President campaign in 1968 in Alameda County, and was a Robert Kennedy delegate to the1968 Chicago Convention,representing Berkeley and Oakland.

At Harvard, he helped form theVietnam MoratoriumCommittee withSam Brown,David Hawk,Marge Sklenkar,andDavid Mixner,and co-chaired the New England division. He organized the 125,000 person Boston CommonVietnam Moratoriumdemonstration in October. and coordinated the 400,000 person Vietnam Moratorium demonstration on theWashington Monumentgrounds in Washington, D.C. Nationwide, the Vietnam Moratorium was the largest mass demonstration in US history, with over two million people involved.

He organized a number of major antiwar demonstrations in Boston, in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in Philadelphia. In 1972, he was named by White House attorney John Dean toNixon's Enemies List.

He was the first field organizer for students for theMcGovern Presidentialcampaign in California, then joined the national campaign as assistant press secretary and trip director, working forFrank Mankiewicz.In that role, he coordinated the day-to-day movement of the press and staff from event to event nationwide withJohn Podestaand others. In the 1976 Jimmy Carter campaign, he helped train staff, and organized the final rallies in California. In the 1980 Ted Kennedy campaign, he was assistant national press secretary and trip director, and member of the traveling party.

In 2008, Gage spent several weeks in Ankeny, Iowa, organizing for the2008 Barack Obama campaign.

Concert activity

In 1969, Gage was asked byBill Hanley,the owner ofHanley Sound,the staging and sound system used atWoodstock,and the system Gage used in Washington, D.C. for theVietnam Moratorium,to come to Palm Beach, Florida, to take over producing the International Palm Beach Music and Art Festival.B.B. King,Janis Joplin,theRolling Stones,Sly and the Family Stone,Jefferson Airplane,theByrds,Sha-Na-Na,Country Joe and the Fish,Steppenwolf,Johnny Winter,Sweetwaterand twenty other groups performed;there had been strong opposition from the Governor of Florida, local law enforcement, and some local churches. Heavy rain and unusual cold did not stop some career-best performances, and crowds up to 100,000 people. This Rolling Stones appearance came just six days before the notoriousAltamont Free Concert.

Subsequently, Gage was called to rescue the Louisiana Celebration of Life Festival after two people had drowned;produced the New York Shea StadiumFestival for PeaceConcert withPeter Yarrow,Janis Joplin,Creedence Clearwater Revival,Herbie Hancock,Miles Davis,Dionne Warwick,Paul Simon,Sha-Na-Na,Johnny Winter,and fifteen more,the Philadelphia Peace Concert, and several other events involving over 100,000 people.

Computer career

In 1980, Gage was part of theHomebrew Computer Club,withSteve Jobs,Steve Wozniak,Lee Felsensteinand others.

In 1982, Gage joinedBill Joy,Andy Bechtolsheim,Vinod Khosla,Scott McNealyand others to foundSun Microsystems.He was responsible for all external relations, including marketing, sales, and technical support to customers. As Sun Microsystems grew, Gage became the Vice President and Director of the Science Office, with responsibility for scientific computing, networking, and relationships with universities, scientific laboratories, international scientific bodies, national intelligence agencies, and multilateral agencies including the World Bank and the United Nations. Gage testified often to the US Congress, to United Nations ECOSOC meetings, and was part of numerous United Nations special commissions.

In 1994, with ProfessorJianping WuofTsinghua University,Gage helped build the Network Research Center in the Tsinghua Main Administration Center, which becameCERNET,linking over 1,000 Chinese universities.

In 1995, at theTechnology, Entertainment, and Design Conference(TED6)in Monterey, California, Gage andJames Goslingannounced and Gage demonstrated for the first time theJavaprogramming language, creating the first interactive interface for the World Wide Web. In 2002, Gage joined theUnited Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force,to bring networking to all nations. In 2006, Gage joined the UN Digital Health Taskforce. For theWorld Economic Forum,he helped organize theJordan Network InitiativewithJohn ChambersofCiscoandEric SchmidtofGoogle.

In 2002,Sun Microsystemsreached $25 billion (2015 USD) in revenues.

In 2010,Oracle purchased Sun Microsystems.

Academic career

In 2000, Gage spent a year at theHarvard Kennedy Schoolof Public Policy as a Shorenstein Fellow. He taught a class of 90 students entitled "Technology, Journalism and Politics", for which he won the "Most Influential Course" award, awarded by DeanJoseph Nye.

NetDay

PresidentBill Clintoninstalling computer cables with Vice PresidentAl GoreonNetDayatYgnacio Valley High Schoolin Concord, California, March 9, 1996

Gage foundedNetDayin 1995 with Michael Kaufman and several others. NetDay was the first crowd sourcing event organized using the Internet.

Gage created zoomable maps of the 140,000 schools in the United States, placing a meter-accurate dot for each school, color-coded for whether or not the school was connected to the Internet. He created a web-based sign-up page for each school, and "called on high-tech companies to commit resources to schools, libraries, and clinics worldwide so that they could connect to the Internet." At some schools, hundreds of volunteers signed up, promising to come to the school on Saturday, March 9, 1996, to install Ethernet cables to five classrooms and the library. On the first NetDay in California, over 100,000 engineers wired 4,000 schools. President Clinton and Vice-president Gore pulled cables throughoutYgnacio Valley High School.Over the next year, over 70,000 schools across the United States held NetDays to wire their schools, and NetDay spread to Korea, Great Britain, France, and other countries.

In the first state, California, over 100,000 volunteers wired 4,000 schools in one day: March 9, 1996. NetDay was endorsed by PresidentBill Clintonand Vice PresidentAl Gore,active participants in NetDay '96.Over the next two years, over 70,000 US K-12 schools held NetDays, and Korea, Great Britain, France and other countries held national NetDays.

In 1998, Gage was awarded the ACM Presidential Award byChuck House,the President of theACMfor his work on NetDay.

Human Needs Project

Gage joinedConnie NielsenandDavid Warnerin 2012 to build a large community center inKibera,Nairobi,Kenya. The Kibera Town Centre is a research platform and learning center, applying new and innovative technologies to provide clean water and waste water treatment in a huge urban slum.The Kibera Town Centreborehole can provide over 400 cubic meters of pure water a day to the 1,000 square-meter facility, which serves over 1,000+ people a day with a combination of educational and career services, showers, toilets, laundry, cafe, and financial services, and provides educational materials to the 4,000 students of neighboring Olympic Primary School, Kenya's largest primary school.

The facility is connected to high-speed fiber optic cable, and has built a half-gigabit wireless network for Kibera.

Family

Gage is married to Linda Schacht Gage, a lecturer in journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and has two children: Peter Gage, formerly with the US Department of Energy, now withRenewable Finance,andKate Gage,who helped create theUSAIDGlobal Development Laboratory,and is now Senior Policy Advisor, International Science and Technology, in theOffice of Science and Technology,White House.

Publications

• Information Technology and Economic Development, inEconomic Development,Oxford University Press,1999.
• Workstations in Science, with Bill Joy in AAAS Science 26 April 1985, Vol 228.

Sunergy Television broadcasts

Gage did more than fifty satellite television programs on technology that were broadcast worldwide from Moscow, Rio, Mexico City, Beijing, Zurich, Mauna Kea, Berlin, Santiago, Kuala Lumpur, Cape Town, San Francisco, Paris, London, and other cities.

"Moscow and Red Square": 1995

Sunergy 7: September 8, 1993"Cyberjockying in the 21st Century": Dr.Whitfield Diffie,Carl Malamud,Brewster Kahle,Larry Irving

Sunergy 8: "Internet"Dr.Eric Schmidt,Dr.Vinton Cerf,Geoffrey Baehr

Sunergy 12: January 24, 1995"Information Highway Access: With Liberty and Justice for All?" Dr.Robert Kahn,Mike Nelson,Eric Schmidt,Deborah Kaplan,Marshall Rose,Wendell Bailey

"The Changing Fabric Of Telecommunications" (Sunergy 33), "Next Generation Networking" (Sunergy 25), and "Network Devices Brought to Life" (Sunergy 32)

External links

• Smithsonian Institution Leadership Award Oral History,29 March 1999
• John Gage interviewed in documentary filmBerkeley in the Sixties
• Video Interview with John Gage,Association for Computing Machinery
• Power to the People: Why is John Gage, a bearded old Berkeley troublemaker, carrying the corporate flag for the Pentagon's favorite computer maker?,Wired
• American Stories: The American DreamTelevision; Exploring the Dream and the Drive: to Move Up,28 June 1998
• American Stories:American Stories: The American Dream (TV Mini-Series 1998–) – IMDb
• "Human Needs Project".Human Needs Project.