Physicist Dr Dennis Jennings has become the first Irish person to be inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.

Dr Jennings has been named an Internet Pioneer at the Internet Society's 2014 Hall of Fame awards in Hong Kong.

He joins some of the great internet developers and visionaries including Sir Tim Berners-lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (recognised as fathers of the internet) and former US vice president Al Gore.

The Internet Hall of Fame celebrates the accolades of innovative thinkers from around the world who have contributed to the development and advancement of the internet.

Established by the Internet Society in 2012, the awards programme has created a virtual museum which “celebrates the living history of the internet... its worldwide availability and its transformative nature.”

“This programme honours individuals who have pushed the boundaries to bring the Internet to life and make it an essential resource used by billions,” said Kathy Brown, chief executive of the Internet Society.

Dr Jennings is celebrated for his role in the early design and development of the internet and research networking in Europe.

He took leave from UCD in 1985/86 to work for the US government as director of networking at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Washington DC. As director he was responsible for a number of key decisions including the creation of the NSFnet programme which developed high speed computing and high performance computers for academic researchers around the US.

Dr Jennings was also responsible for the development of the .ie domain name service. He was director of UCD computing services from 1977 to 1999 but left academia to pursue commercial interests in investment.

He currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of a number of companies and chairs the UCD Choral Scholars steering committee.