If you're reading this article right now, then that means you've already been introduced to one of the greatest innovations ever- the Internet! Well, how did this so-called "Internet" come about? Well, it didn't just spring up in a night! In this section, we'll introduce you to some of the bright minds that brought networks and the Internet to reality.
In 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote an article entitled "As We May Think," published in the Atlantic Monthly. Bush first introduced his visionary concept of information technology to the world. He wrote about a "memex" automated library system.
Norbert Wiener invented the concept of Cybernetics. This concept dealt with the combination of man and technology, and it has greatly influenced later researchers to try to find ways to use technology to enhance human capabilities.
With the Russian launching of the Sputnik, President Dwight d. Eisenhower created the research agency called ARPA, or Advanced Research Projects Agency (later, ARPA's name was changed to DARPA).
The Dataphone, developed by AT&T, was the first commercial modem.
J.C.R. Licklider came up with a concept that he called a "Galactic Network." This idea is essentially very similar to the Internet today. Licklider envisioned a world where computers were connected so that people in every corner of the globe could access all sorts of amazing information! In addition, Licklider became the leader of ARPA.
In 1964, Marshall McLuhan published his book Understanding Media. McLuhan's ideas dealt with the idea of having a global village connected by an electronic nervous system.
In 1965, Ted Nelson wrote an article about "literary machines." These so-called "literary machines" were at the very base of the concept of the World Wide Web. They were computers that would let people write in a format called hypertext. Hypertext is the idea of using "links" that you can click on to go from related topic to another. They are found throughout web pages now. For example, this link to Yahoo is an example of hypertext!
In 1965, Thomas Merrill and Lawrence G. Roberts connected the TX-2 computer in Massachusetts to the Q-32 computer in California with a dial-up telephone line. This, essentially, was the first ever wide-area network, or WAN.
Douglas Engelbart was a researcher at Stanford University when he developed the first working hypertext system in 1968. Engelbart is also the inventor of the mouse and graphical user interface.
ARPANET stands for ARPA-network. It is a network that was specially designed to let universities and other research centers to exchange all sorts of information. The concept was first conceived in the 1960s. Then in 1969, four nodes, or host computers, were established. One was at the University of California Santa Barbara, one at UCLA, one at SRI International, and the last one at the University of Utah.
In 1972, the first public demonstration of ARPANET was held at the International Computer Communication Convention.
Then in 1983, ARPANET began to use the TCP/IP protocol.
Within the years that followed, ARPANET slowly grew as more and more nodes were added. Eventually, believe it or not, the ARPANET grew into what is now the infamous Internet! Computers throughout the world have been connected-and all this started with a simple network connecting four computers in Western United States.
The Network Control Protocol, or NCP, was developed by the Network Working Group. It was a host-to-host protocol that was used on the ARPANET.
E-mail was introduced in 1972.
The first conception of Ethernet was made in 1973 by a man named Robert Metcalfe. Metcalfe
TCP, or transmission-control protocol was first introduced in 1974. It was outlined in a paper written by Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf. TCP messages were messages that were encapsulated, and then de-capsulated, kind of like how a letter is placed in an envelope. It focused on the reliability of networks to make sure that the messages and information being transferred would arrive safely.
In 1978, TCP officially became called TCP/IP. IP, an acronym for Internet Protocol was developed by Vint Cerf, Jon Postel, and Danny Cohen. The idea behind the TCP/IP was that the TCP would only be responsible for breaking up messages into datagrams, the devices that messages were encapsulated in, then re-assembling the messages at the other end, as well as detecting errors. Meanwhile, the IP would be responsible for routing individual datagrams.
In 1983, the TCP/IP protocol was used in the ARPANET! In addition, this protocol is still widely used today!
Telnet was developed in 1975. It is the first packet commercial-switching network, and it could be used to link people in several different cities!
The United States National Science Foundation initiated the development of NSFNET, which marked the birth of the Internet as we know it. The NSFNET linked major computer centers at Princeton University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at The University of California at San Diego, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and at Cornell University. The ARPANET was retired, but parts of it were transferred to the NSFNET.
In the 1990s, the NSFNET connected to other networks-the CSNET and the EUNET. The CSNET connected to many universities throughout the Untied States, while the EUNET connected to major research centers in Europe.
The World Wide Web was born. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. Using ideas like HTML, URL (Uniform Resource Locater), and HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), the Internet was able to expand into the World Wide Web. Web sites could be built and hosted on servers. Links connected thousands of web sites, making them available to the public.
Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of HTML, also created the first Internet browser and the first web server.
Mosaic became the first popular web browser. It was not only easy to use
to access the World Wide Web, but it was also extremely easy to download and
install!
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