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The 1970's

In the early 1970’s, the Internet (then known as ARPANET) was only used by scientists, engineers, and computer experts for research. The computers that were used where huge, and couldn’t fit into desks, and sometimes took up a whole room. Also, the system was not user friendly like it is today, so not many companies nor individual persons could use the Internet.

The E-Mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson in 1972, many people (mostly college students, computer experts, etc) were attracted by the possibility to keep in touch with their friends and family using this electronic mail. The Telnet Protocol came later in 1972, and then came the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) in 1973. The network was growing rapidly with new hosts added, as well as new services that were available, such as E-Mail, Telnet, and FTP.

In 1973 the University College of London (England) connected to ARPANET, the first International connection to ARPANET.

Frederick G. Kilgour from the Ohio College Library Center, developed networking in libraries across Ohio, in the mid-1970’s, a major step to widen the network was taken when other US states joined the network to make it national. Now book catalogs were available, and were accessed by Telnet.

Until then, the only protocol used to connect was the Network Control Protocol (NCP), which allowed only communication with the hosts in the network. That protocol couldn’t be used to connect to other networks, which will emerge in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

In 1973 development on a new protocol, TCP/IP began. The new TCP/IP protocol will allow networks to communicate with each other, and not only work within the network like with NCP. It was developed by a group led by Vinton Cerf of Stanford and Bob Kahn of DARPA, while in development through the 1970’s, the term Internet was first used by them in 1974. In 1980 the protocol was used by the Defense Department, and by 1983, became a standard around the world. The development of the TCP/IP Protocol was a step toward the Internet as we know it today.

In 1974, another protocol, Ethernet, was introduced. The protocol was designed for local area networks(LAN).

UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) was developed at AT&T Bell Labs in 1976-1978 and was distributed with UNIX.

In 1976, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom sent an e-mail.

Through out the late 1970’s and the 1980’s many new networks appeared in the US and in many other countries as well.