Evi Nemeth
Evi Nemeth (born June 7, 1940 – missing-at-sea June or July 2013) was an engineer, author, and teacher known for her expertise in computer system administration and networks. She was the lead author of the "bibles" of system administration: UNIX System Administration Handbook (1989, 1995, 2000), Linux Administration Handbook (2002, 2006), and UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (2010, 2017). Known in technology circles as the matriarch of system administration.
Evi Nemeth
- Name
- Evi Nemeth
- Born
- 7 June 1940
- Occupation
- Author, retired professor
- Known for
- Lead author of "bibles" of system administration
- Died
- 2013.
- Nationality
- United States.
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Documentary summary
Evi Nemeth (born June 7, 1940 – missing-at-sea June or July 2013) was an engineer, author, and teacher known for her expertise in computer system administration and networks. She was the lead author of the "bibles" of system administration: UNIX System Administration Handbook (1989, 1995, 2000), Linux Administration Handbook (2002, 2006), and UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (2010, 2017). Known in technology circles as the matriarch of system administration.
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Evi Nemeth (1940–2013) was an American computer scientist, engineer and professor, among other activities. The computer scientist died in Tasman Sea.
Evi Nemeth studied at Pennsylvania State University and University of Waterloo. The computer scientist worked for University of Colorado Boulder. Evi Nemeth received NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Nemeth was best known in mathematical circles for originally identifying inadequacies in the "Diffie–Hellman problem", the basis for a large portion of modern network cryptography.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Evi Nemeth • Born — 7 June 1940 • Disappeared Place — Tasman Sea • Occupation — Author, retired professor • Known for — Lead author of "bibles" of system administration
Career
Career
Nemeth received her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Penn State in 1961 and her PhD in mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Ontario in 1971. She taught at Florida Atlantic University and the State University of New York at Utica (SUNY Tech) before joining the computer science department at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) in 1980. She served as manager of the college's computing facility from 1982 to 1986. She also was a visiting Associate Professor at Dartmouth College in 1990, and at UC San Diego in 1998, while on sabbatical from CU-Boulder. While at CU-Boulder, Nemeth was well known for her undergraduate systems administration activity, in which students over the years had the opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge and skills in Unix system administration. Together with Steve Wozniak, Nemeth established the Woz scholarship program at CU-Boulder which funded inquisitive undergraduates for many years. Nemeth also had a special talent for inspiring and teaching young people. She mentored numerous middle- and high-school students, who worked with her to support computing in the college and came to be known as "the munchkins". She also mentored talented young undergraduates, taking them to national meetings where they installed networks and broadcast the meetings' sessions on the Internet on the multicast backbone. She coached the university's student programming teams in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. • Illustration — T-shirt with Layer 8 and Layer 9 From 1998 to 2006, Nemeth worked with Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) at the University of California, San Diego, on various Internet measurement and visualization projects. Outside the United States, Nemeth helped bring Internet technology to the developing world through her involvement with programs of the Internet Society and the United Nations Development Programme. A network guru T-shirt from the 1980s shows OSI Model layers with additional Layer 8 as the "financial" layer, and Layer 9 as the "political" layer. The design was credited to Evi Nemeth. During the Summer 1994 USENIX conference in Boston, a commemorative deck of playing cards was created celebrating the 25th anniversary of UNIX. Evi Nemeth coordinated the production of the card deck.
Key Maxims
Key Maxims
She frequently advised "Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive" (a variation of Postel's Law) and her professional hiring advice: "Be liberal in who you hire, but fire early".
The Munchkins
The Munchkins
She is famous for her mentoring program for middle and high-school students, whom she called "the munchkins", who supported college computing facilities under her guidance.
Collaborations
Collaborations
She worked with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to establish the `Woz scholarship` program at CU Boulder, which funded inquisitive undergraduates for many years.
Later life
Later life
After her retirement, Nemeth sailed her 40-foot sailboat Wonderland around various parts of the world, including a circuit of the Atlantic; the Panama Canal; and across the Pacific to New Zealand.
Disappearance at sea
Disappearance at sea
In late May 2013 she, along with six other people aboard the vintage yacht Niña, traveled across the Tasman Sea en route to Australia from New Zealand. On June 4, the day the last message, sent by Nemeth, was received from Niña, the Tasman Sea had 65 mile-per-hour winds and swell height reaching 26 feet. A natural disaster (e.g., a rogue wave) might have led to the disappearance of the boat. On July 5 New Zealand authorities officially ended the search for the Niña, though relatives of the crew of Niña continued to search.
Identity
Identity
Evi Nemeth is recorded as a citizen of United States. Recorded with the occupation professor. Recorded with the occupation engineer. Recorded with the occupation writer. Established in Bibliothèque nationale de France under 14561314k. Established in Library of Congress under n88263591.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1940–2018
The full dated record · 3 entries
1940
Evi Nemeth was born on 7 June 1940.
2013
Evi Nemeth died on 4 June 2013.
2018
Evi Nemeth received NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award in 2018.
Philosophical Tenets and Influence
Nemeth was known for a specific set of guiding principles for system administrators that she popularized through her teaching and the `Unix` and `Linux System Administration` Handbooks.
Selected publications
• Nemeth, E., Hein, T., Snyder, G., and Whaley, B., Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook, 4th edition, Prentice Hall, 2010. • Nemeth, E., Snyder, G., Hein, T., Whaley, B., and Makin, D., Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook, 5th edition, Prentice Hall, 2017. * * • Mullin, R., Nemeth, E. and Weidenhofer, N., "Will Public Key Crypto Systems Live up to Their Expectations? HEP Implementation of the Discrete Log Codebreaker", Proc. of the 1984 Intl Conf on Parallel Processing, Aug. 21–24, 1984, pp. 193–196. Selected for the best paper award for this conference. *
The "Sudo" Legacy
She is credited with "saving" the sudo command by recognizing its potential for distributed workstations and advocating for its adoption as a standard tool for secure root management.
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 14561314k
Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
- GND (German National Library) authority file 102354850X
Unverified · GND (German National Library)
- IdRef (French universities) authority file 059093722
Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
- ISNI authority file 0000000109859848
Unverified · ISNI
- Library of Congress authority file n88263591
Unverified · Library of Congress
- VIAF authority file 71635563
Unverified · VIAF
reference work
- “Evi Nemeth”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards
• 1984 - Best Paper Award, International Parallel Processing Conference, Chicago, August 1984 • 1995 - USENIX/LISA Lifetime Achievement Award • 1999 - Top 25 Women on the Web Award • 2007 - Distinguished Engineering Honoree at CU-Boulder • 5th Annual Telluride Tech Fest Honoree • 2018 - NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Techfestival.org. Evi Nemeth | Telluride Tech Festival.
- 2.Nzherald.co.nz. Racing yacht missing: Seven lost in stormy seas – National – NZ Herald News. 2013-06-28.
- 3.(R. Mullin, E. Nemeth and N. Weidenhofer, "Will Public Key Cryptosystems Live up to Their Expectations? HEP Implementation of the Discrete Log Codebreaker" in Proceedings of the International Parallel Processing Conference, pp. 193–196, 1984.)
- 4.Cs.colorado.edu. Computer Science | CU-Boulder. 2012-11-26.
- 5.Caida.org. Senior Staff Bio - Evi Nemeth. 1999-08-23.
- 6.Cs.colorado.edu. Computer Science | CU-Boulder. 2012-11-26.
- 7.OSI 9-Layer Model T-Shirt. Internet Systems Corporation.
- 8.1994 USENIX conference card deck.
- 9.Nemeth, Evi. Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook. Pearson Education. 2017. 978-0-13-427755-4.
- 10.Windham, David. Evi Nemeth. David Windham TIL. 2023-10-12.
- 11.Limoncelli, Tom. Remembering Evi Nemeth: The woman that saved "sudo". ACM Queue. 2013-07-08.
- 12.Limoncelli, Tom. The woman that saved sudo. EverythingSysadmin. 2013-07-08.
- 13.Remembering Evi Nemeth, the “Matriarch of System Administration”. Adafruit Industries. 2018-07-27.
- 14.Hofman, Terri. CU Boulder Computing: Punch Cards to AI. CU Boulder Alumni Association. 2023-07-10.
- 15.Eyrolles (Author Biography Section). Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook. 2017.
- 16.Evi Nemeth. Schooner Niña Memorial.
- 17.Mullany, Gerry. Florida Family and 4 Others Missing at Sea Off New Zealand. The New York Times. 2013-06-28. 0362-4331.
- 18.Anna Leask. Racing yacht missing: Seven lost in stormy seas. The New Zealand Herald. 2013-06-28.
- 19.Godmother of Unix admins Evi Nemeth presumed lost at sea. theregister.co.uk.
- 20.Nina7.org – Schooner Nina.
- 21.LISA Outstanding Achievement Award. 1995.
- 22.sfwow top 25 honoring a network of women. 1998-12-12.
- 23.Colorado.edu. CU-Boulder Honors Distinguished Engineers For Contributions | University of Colorado Boulder. 2007-04-17.
- 24.NCWIT. Evi Nemeth, National Centre for Women & Information Technology. 2018-05-18.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 14561314kBibliothèque nationale de France
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
GND (German National Library) authority file 102354850XGND (German National Library)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
IdRef (French universities) authority file 059093722IdRef (French universities)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Library of Congress authority file n88263591Library of Congress
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q14099: Evi NemethWikimedia Foundation
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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