Early Beginnings of the Internet
1945
In 1945 Vannevar Bush wrote an essay called “As We May Think.” This essay predicted a lot of things that will happen in the future with computer information technology. It was deemed visionary and ahead of its time. He introduced the “memex” concept that would be used for storing various data and communication – the computer.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Vannevar Bush – born in 1890 in Everett, Massachusetts. This American engineer was the head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. He is one of the key players that contributed to the start of the National Science Foundation. Bush died in 1974. Source: Wikipedia Technologies Memex – Memex is a concept of the first hypertext system. Its description led to the development of the first hypertext systems. It grew into knowledge base systems and led to the start of the World Wide Web. |
1957
The first space satellite was launched by the USSR in 1957, “Sputnik 1”. It orbited around the earth while transmitting radio communication for 22 days. The Sputnik launch in 1957 and the Atlantic cable in 1858 were two of the most important events that impacted long-distance communication.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Sergei Korolev – born in 1906 in Zhytomyr, Russia. Called the father of astronautics, he was one of the best rocket engineers during the Space Race and the cold war. He was the main engineer behind the “Laika” launch, the “R-7 Rocket” development, and the launch of “Sputnik 1”. Source: Wikipedia Technologies Sputnik 1 – Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite launched into space. It was launched by the USSR. It orbited around the earth for two weeks, and its launch marked the start of space technology development. |
1958
The year that Sputnik was launched, the US government formed the ARPA – Advanced wResearch Projects Agency as a response to Soviet success. At the same time, this was the year when AT&T Corporation released the first commercial computer modem.
| People Dwight D. Eisenhower – born in 2890 in Denison, Texas. Eisenhower was a soldier, a politician, and the president of the United States. He was directly responsible for the formation of ARPA and said that America couldn’t let the Russians beat them in space technology. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & companies The ARPA organization – founded in 1958 by Eisenhower to respond to the Russian success with Sputnik 1. ARPA’s goal was to provide research and development of various technologies for the military and general public. It was later renamed to DARPA. Source: Wikipedia Bell 101 modem – the very first commercial modem. It was able to transmit digital data through telephone lines. Its maximum speed was 110 bits/s. Source: Wikipedia |
1961
The packet-switching concept was pioneered by Leonard Kleinrock in 1961. In his doctoral thesis at MIT, he described packet-switching and how it works. His “Information Flow in Large Communication Nets” was very influential for the development of communication technologies.
Source: Time Graphics
| People Leonard Kleinrock – born in 1934 in New York City. This computer scientist has made a lot of important contributions to computer science, but the most important discoveries he made are the data transmission theories for computer networking. Source: Wikipedia Technologies Packet-switching concept – packet—switching is a known concept In telecommunications. It involves piling up data into group units before transmitting it over the network. Today this is the primary technology used for data communication and computer networks. Source: Wikipedia |
1962
When writing a series of memos in 1962, Joseph Carl Robnett Lickner described global networking as a concept. Licklider talked about the “Intergalactic Computer Network” and demonstrated his progressive ideas on networks and computer technology.
Source: Internet Hall of Fame
| People J.C.R. Licklider – born in 1915 in Arlington, Massachusetts. This computer scientist and psychologist is a very important figure in computing history. He expanded concepts of interactive computing, developed various graphic interfaces, and formed the ARPANET. Source: Wikipedia Technologies Intergalactic Network concept – known as Galactic Network and IGCN. This computer networking concept was described by J.C.R. in 1962. It was a similar network to the modern internet. J.C.R said that this was the main electronic platform where all information and communication can be shared between individuals, governments, companies, and institutions. Source: Wikipedia |
1963
The year 1963 marked the release of the first computer standard – ASCII. The American Standard Code for Information Exchange was set in place by a joint committee. Its goal was to allow communication between computer devices coming from different manufacturers.
Even though ASCII was a joint effort, the man with the greatest credit for its development was Bob Bemer. Bemer developed this coding system for the purpose of standardizing all the controls, punctuations, and letters that all computers would share.
Source: CNN
| People Bob Bemer – born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in 1920. This American computer scientist is also known as the father of ASCII. His major contributions to computer science were made during the 50s and 60s when he worked at IBM. Source: Wikipedia Technologies ASCII – this computer standard puts in place numbers, letters, and various computer characters within an 8-bit code throughout 256 slots. The decimals are made from binary, and since it was first created, the standard was revised 10 times. Source: Computer Hope |
1964
In 1964 Paul Baran started developing the first message blocks. His project was completed in 1967. At the same time, Donald Watts Davies created packet-switching. The two technologies were very similar, and they both made a great impact on data communications in general.
Source: Rand Corporation
| People Paul Baran – born in 1926 in Grodno, Belarus. This Polish engineer worked and lived in the US throughout most of his life. He is one of the pioneers of computer network development, and his greatest contribution is message blocks technology, similar to packet switching. Baran died in 2011. Source: Wikipedia Watts Davies – Donald Watts Davis was born in 1924 in Treorchy, Wales. He worked at the UK National Physical Laboratory as a computer scientist. His biggest invention was packet switching, which is still used for data communications across the globe. Source: Wikipedia Technologies Packet-switching – this type of computer communication was a major breakthrough. With this technique, all the individual data streams are broken into smaller packets that are transferred more easily and then extracted into original data. Source: Britannica Message blocks – this system of sharing information across the computer network was similar to packet switching. But Baran called the divided information “message blocks”, and these blocks would also be rejoined when reaching the final destination. Source: Rand Corporation |
1965
The first wide-area network (WAN) was created in 1965 by Thomas Marill and Lawrence Roberts. They were sponsored by ARPA for this project for establishing this connection between a computer located in California and in Massachusetts. This system confirmed packet switching as the best model for computer communication. The study was called “Cooperative Network of Time-Sharing Computers.”
Source: HostingCT
| People Lawrence Roberts – Lawrence Gilman Roberts was born in 1937 in Westport, Connecticut. This computer engineer was one of the key players in the creation of the ARPANET. He is a major contributor to the development of the internet and received a Draper Prize for his achievements. Lawrence died in 2018. Source: Wikipedia Thomas Marill – born in 1929 in Massachusetts Marill was a computer scientist whose biggest contribution was the idea of the ARPANET. Marill died in 2000. Source: MyHeritage Technologies Wide-area network (WAN) – a type of telecommunications network used for a large area of communication in computer technology. It allows data transfer regardless of the location, and the whole internet is built on WAN. Source: Wikipedia |
1966
The ARPANET project started in 1966 by Robert Taylor. His primary goal was to discover a method that would let IPTO contractors communicate and share valuable data resources. His inspiration was the network idea from Licklider, and he picked Larry Roberts as the leader of the project.
The ARPANET is considered the first network that was similar to the internet as we know it today. Lawrence Roberts used the concepts from the “Cooperative Network of Time-Sharing Computers” study to develop the plan for ARPANET.
Source: Britannica
| People Robert Taylor – born in 1932 in Dallas, Texas. He was one of the pioneers of the internet and was the director of the Information Processing Techniques Office at ARPA during the 60s. He was an important leader in various computer departments and projects. Taylor died in 2017. Source: Wikipedia Lawrence Roberts – Lawrence Gilman Roberts was born in 1937 in Westport, Connecticut. This computer engineer was one of the key players in the creation of the ARPANET. He is a major contributor to the development of the internet and received a Draper Prize for his achievements. Lawrence died in 2018. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & companies ARPAnet project – the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network project started in 1966, and its goal was to network remote computers. Robert Taylor was the head of the project, and this network was the first to use TCP/IP and packet-switching technologies successfully. These technologies are the foundation of the modern internet. Source: Wikipedia |
1967
In 1967 a year after the start of the ARPANET project, Lawrence Roberts published the project’s initial design and described it in his paper – “Multiple Computer Networks and Inter-Computer Communication.” Interface Message Processors are used for all the main devices for managing the network.
IMPs were suggested by Wesley Clark and these devices were the predecessors of modern internet routers. The packet switching technology for transferring data is borrowed from Donald Watts Davis and his paper.
At the same time, Danny Cohen innovates the real-time visual flight simulator as well as the real-time radar simulator. Together with Ivan Sutherland, Cohen creates line clipping algorithms for computer graphics called the “Cohen-Sutherland.”
Source: HostingCT
| People Wesley Clark – born in 1927 in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a computer scientist and a physicist. He was a great innovator in computer technology hardware. Clark designed the TX-0, TX-2, and the LINC computers. His IMPs were used for networking the ARPANET project. Source: Britannica Danny Cohen – born in 1937 in Haifa, Israel. He’s one of the biggest internet pioneers of the 60s. Cohen used the ARPANET to run the first-ever real-time visual flight simulator. He was also the person who designed the simulator. The American-Israeli scientist died in 2019. Source: Wikipedia Ivan Sutherland – born in 1938 in Hastings, Nebraska. Sutherland made important contributions as a computer scientist to the development of the internet. More importantly, he is one of the pioneers of modern computer graphics. Source: Wikipedia Technologies Interface Message Processors (IMPs) – the IMP was the packet switch infrastructure for ARPANET. They were connected with telephone links and with a modem. Host computers were connected to IMPs via host & IMP protocol. Source: Computer History Wiki Visual flight simulator – The first real-time flight simulator. It used an algorithm that allocated 9 regions for 2D space and 27 regions for 3D space. It also selectively chooses the lines that are going to be displayed. Apart from being the first flight simulator, it also introduced many computer graphics innovations along with on-screen instruments that were controlled in real-time. Source: Wired |
1968
In 1968 the concepts of collaborative computing and hypertext were introduced for the first time by Douglas Engelbart. In his presentation called “Mother of All Demos” at the Fall Joint Computer Conference, Englebart did a presentation in which he had a live conference with his coworkers who were located 30 miles away.
This iconic moment is still called “Mother of All Demos.” At the moment, it was something nobody had ever seen before. This proved yet again how innovative Englebart was, even though most people didn’t understand his work.
Source: Wired
That same year the BBN – Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc. locked in the contract for building the IMSs for the ARPA project. The fact that Edward Kennedy (US Senator) sent a telegram of congratulations to ARPA only shows how important the whole project was.
Source: Wikipedia
At the same time, the Host Level Protocols for ARPANET were developed by UCLA. The UCLA Network Working Group was headed by Steve Crocker and overlooked by Professor Leonard Kleinrock throughout the entire project.
This group created the foundational protocols that are used in the modern internet. Some of the most important members of the project were Jon Postel and Vint Cerf.
Source: Columbia University
| People Douglas Engelbart – born in 1925 in Portland, Oregon. This internet pioneer, inventor, and engineer is best known for his invention of the human-computer interaction field. He also contributed to the development of graphical interfaces, hypertext, the creation of the mouse, and networked computers. Engelbart died in 2013. Source: Wikipedia Leo Beranek – born in 1914, in Solon, Iowa. Beranek was the founder of BBN Technologies (formerly Bolt, Beranek, and Newman), a professor at MIT, and an acoustics expert. Beranek died in 2016. Source: Wikipedia Richard Bolt – born in 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of the co-founders of BBN Technologies and an MIT professor. Bolt also did a lot of work in acoustics. He died in 2002. Source: Wikipedia Robert Newman – Robert Bradford Neman was born in 1917 in Ungkung, China. He was a founding partner of BBN Technologies and a faculty member of MIT. Newman was an amazing teacher and an acoustics engineer. He died in 1983. Source: Newman Student Award Fund Leonard Kleinrock – born in 1934 in New York City. This computer scientist has made a lot of important contributions to computer science, but the most important discoveries he made are the data transmission theories for computer networking. Source: Wikipedia Steve Crocker – born in 1944 in Pasadena, California. Since his young age, Crocker became an active member of the internet community. He worked on developing the ARPANET internet protocols, a teacher at UCLA, and was the ICANN chairman. Source: Wikipedia Vint Cerf – born in 1943 in New Haven, Connecticut. One of the fathers of the internet along with Bob Kahn for their invention of the TCP/IP. Together they are also the founders of the nonprofit organization “Internet Society.” Source: Wikipedia Jon Postel – born in 1943 in Altadena, California. Postel had a very successful career in computer science. His work with internet standards is praised to this day. He’s known for Postel’s Law, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, and Request for Comment. Postel died in 1998. Source: Wikipedia Technologies “Mother of All Demos” – One of the most iconic moments of computer demonstration. This live demonstration made by Douglas Engelbart and his associates introduced the oN-Line System (NLS), which featured software and hardware. They used the system to present all of the essentials of modern computing. Source: Wikipedia Host Level Protocols – The first Host-Host protocol used within the ARPANET. It was designed for packet-switching and transferring connections. Source: IETF Tools |
1969
In 1969 the Interface Message Processor was finished. ARPANET was the first-ever physical node – a network of 4 different computers. The four hosts were located in:
- The University of Utah
- University of California at Santa Barbara
- Stanford
- The University of California in Los Angeles
The first data packets were sent by a team from UCLA on October 29th. Charley Kline was in charge of the project while Leonard Kleinrock was supervising the whole thing. However, the first attempt was unsuccessful. On the second try, the transfer was successful.
That same year, the contract for designing the ARPANET network structure was given to Howard Frank.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Charley Kline – Charley S. Kline was a computer scientist. Birthdate: unknown. He was the man behind the first login on ARPANET IMP. The first remote host initials on ARPANET were CSK, which were his initials. Source: Wikimedia Commons Howard Frank – born in 1941. Frank was an electrical engineer best known as the co-author of the ARPANET network structure design. He was also in charge of the topological analysis of the ARPANET. Frank died in 2017. Source: Informs Technologies First network 4 computers – First network 4 computers or initial four hosts were SDS Sigma 7 at UCL, SDS 940 at Stanford Research Institute, IBM 360/74 at University of California, Santa Barbara, and DEC PDP-10 at the University of Utah School of Computing. These were the first hosts that hosted an internet connection on ARPANET. Source: Wikipedia Network structure ARPAnet – the main concept behind the ARPA network was for a single user to access another computer on the network and get valuable resources. This was achieved through hosts that connected to IMPs, and packets were relayed through nodes. All the connections traveled through telephone lines using modems. Source: Arpanet |
1970
ARPANET expanded using transatlantic IP connectivity to connect to a European node. The node was located at the University College London and operated by Professor Peter Kirstein.
Source: Internet Hall of Fame
That same year, Norman Abramson developed the ALOHANET at the University of Hawaii. It was the first packet radio network in the world.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Peter Kirstein – born in 1933 in Berlin, Germany. This British/German computer scientist was monitoring the work on ARPANET and was the first one to reach out and expand the ARPANET in Europe. He also helped implement and define TCP/IP together with Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf. Many consider him the father of the internet in Europe. Kirstein died in 2020. Source: Wikipedia Norman Abramson – this American computer scientist and engineer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932. He created ALOHANET that allowed wireless long-distance computer communication. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & companies First European ARPAnet node – the first European computer to be connected to ARPANET was operated by Professor Peter Kirsten. This is just a result of his long-lasting academic and industrial collaborations with computer scientists in the US. Source: Internet Hall of Fame ALOHAnet – Aloha System or Aloha was one of the first computer networking systems. It was deployed in 1970 and first demonstrated a wireless packet data transfer in 1971. It used the Marisat satellite network for communication. Source: Wikipedia |
To Be Continued
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