Scientist-100 at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Invented the Spanning Tree Protocol at Digital Equipment Corporation, the algorithm that keeps network bridges from looping data forever — a piece of infrastructure so foundational to how the internet self-organizes that she earned the nickname "Mother of the Internet," a title she has said she dislikes. She holds over 100 patents, later developed the TRILL protocol to improve on her own earlier work, and was elected to both the Internet Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.