Chaosnet, a re-engineered version of the Xerox 3 Mbit/s Ethernet. In 1975 this network became the first local area network on MIT's campus. Chaosnet's innovation of a preamble bit string for packets was eventually incorporated into the 10 Mbit/s Ethernet standard. In 1980, Knight participated in the development of the Connection Machine architecture and its original implementation. Other notable and diverse accomplishments during the 1980s included the creation of the first silicon retina in 1981, the creation of a single-chip optical mouse, the design of the Cross-Omega interconnection network architecture, and the design of the Transit multiprocessor interconnection architecture. During the early 1990s, Knight was involved in the formation of Permabit and of Exa Corporation and the architecture of the latter's initial version of its FX/1 lattice gas parallel fluid flow computer. Advances included using over-relaxation techniques to make 10x algorithmic improvements in lattice gas computations, landmark CFD accuracies, and correction of misconceptions about the origin of fluid turbulence in simple two-dimensional flow situations. Within the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, he led the Abacus SIMD project, worked on VLSI micro displays, and made advances in the field of adiabatic (reversible) computing. Work in synthetic biology It was also during this period that Knight's interests in biological systems began. Inspired in part by the work of Harold J. Morowitz, a Yale physicist and biologist, Knight studied biochemistry, genetics, and cellular biology, and set up a biology lab within the MIT AI Laboratory. In this lab he created the concept of the BioBrick plasmid DNA part and began creating a library of BioBricks that could be used to simplify the genetic engineering of Escherichia coli cells. Today, BioBricks form the basis of the enormous annual iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition and Knight is sometimes referred to as the godfather of synthetic biology. Knight co-founded Ginkgo Bioworks, a synthetic biology company. References External links Knight Lab Current webpage at MIT Former webpage at MIT (more informative) The Readme for the release of an early Lisp Machine OS under a BSD license Home page for the BioBricks Foundation Webpage for the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition Ginkgo BioWorks Tom Knight's Ginkgo Bioworks Seeks To Reinvent Moore's Law Through Biochemistry Knight TV Resurrection Lisp (programming language) people Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff Year of birth missing (living people) Synthetic biologists