The History of the Internet

The History of the Internet

Ask just about anyone who invented the light bulb or the telephone and chances are they can tell you. But ask even the most scholarly individual who invented the Internet and you’re sure to be met with a puzzled look. In 1999 Al Gore was quoted as saying he, “took the initiative in creating the Internet.” It’s no secret that sometimes, a politician’s mouth runs faster than his brain.

In reality, it’s likely that what Gore meant was, during his time in Congress and the Senate he supported the development of the Information Highway, and that would be accurate. So who invented this wonderful communications medium called the Internet?

The seeds that were to blossom into the Internet were scattered in the late1950s during what was known as the cold war. Not to be outdone by the USSR’s launch of Sputnik, the US Department of Defense established the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in an effort to maintain a lead in science and technology.

In the early 1960s, the Air Force commissioned the Rand Corporation, a government think tank, with an important assignment. Due to the ever present threat of nuclear attack, the US military was looking for a way to keep the lines of communication open for both government and military officials in the event of an actual attack, act of sabotage, or other catastrophic event.

By 1964, Paul Baran of the Rand Corporation came up with the idea for a government operated network of computers. The unique aspect of his brainchild was that there would be no central controlling node in the network because such a master unit was likely to be a target should the country come under attack. Consequently, each computer in the network would function the same as all the others.

It was further proposed that data transmitted over this network be allocated into packets, each carrying the digital address of the sender and the intended recipient. The network would be set up like a giant grid or lattice. That way, if a hole was blown out of any particular piece of the grid, the packets would be able to make their way around the damaged section, the exact route being unimportant. Fundamentally, this is how the Internet operates today. Data transmissions usually follow the path of least resistance.

The government kicked this idea around for a few years and decided to give it a try. In the fall of 1969, under the direction of ARPA, the first node was installed at UCLA. By December of 1969, three additional nodes were placed relatively close, one at SRI International, a non-profit corporation in Stanford California, one at the University of California Santa Barbara, and the third at the University of Utah. This first computer network was connected with dedicated general purpose telephone wire at a speed of 50 Kbs. It was christened ARPANET after it’s sponsor.

By 1972 there were 37 nodes in place. Unlike today, computer access was at a great premium in the late 1960s and early 1970s so initially, the network was used by researchers to share valuable computer time. The protocol for transferring data around ARPANET was known as Network Control Protocol (NTP).

Another milestone was realized in 1972. Ray Tomlinson of BBN developed the first email program. It wasn’t long before the growing network was being used as much for personal communications among its operators as it was for official business.

Many operators had personal email addresses and often sent messages to one another about science fiction. The first email list was created allowing for early mass mailings. Among the first groups to receive these messages were the “SF- LOVERS.” Around this time the Advanced Research Projects Agency was renamed Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA).

In 1973 a team headed by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn began work on Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a more sophisticated method of transferring data over a network. TCP/IP converts packets into streams of digital data that are able to intermingle with other packets while traveling over a network.

Because each packet carries the address of the sender and receiver, there is no chance of misdirecting the transmissions. The newly named DARPA found this protocol more favorable than NTP. With the adoption of the use of TCP/IP, the term “Internet” was first used by Vinton Cerf in 1974. Although the network continued to grow, data continued to flow over telephone lines at a rate of 50 Kbs.

As the 1970s progressed researchers concentrated on faster transmission of data over the expanding network. While doing research for the Xerox Corporation, Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe and D.R. Boggs developed the Ethernet, a local area network that used satellites and coaxial cable to broadcast data over networks. This allowed for data transmission at 10 megabits per second. In 1979 Metcalfe left Xerox and started 3Com, an acronym for the three words, computer, communication, and compatibility. Under Metcalfe’s direction 3Com has become a Fortune 500 company.

By the end of the 1970s a collection of newsgroups and discussion forums called the USENET began to take shape. Created by Steve Bellovin, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, and programmers Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott, the USENET used Unix to Unix Copy (UUCP) as its transmission protocol.

USENET is very much alive today with thousands of discussion groups in existence. Long time users of the medium often consider themselves among the Internet elite. The USENET played an important roll in shaping netiquette, and many of the unwritten standards of behavior used on the Internet and in time, the World Wide Web.

The 1980s saw the establishment of standards both official and informal for the Internet. In 1983 the Internet Activities Board was created. Additionally, ARPANET decided that any machine wishing to utilize their backbone would be required to use TCP/IP. To make network communications easier, the University of Wisconsin created the Domain Name System (DNS). This allowed users to access servers by directing packets using names which were assigned IP numbers. The majority of transmissions on the Internet were still at 50 Kbs.

It’s interesting to note that despite the fact the federal government developed the Internet, the majority of computers that connected to the network were owned by universities and corporations. The taxpayers subsidized very little of the growth of the medium after its initial launch. Each computer joining the network paid for their own development. And as more computers connected, the network became more powerful and popular. The medium feeds on itself.

In an effort to increase data speed transmission, the National Science Foundation, contracted with MCI in 1984 to upgrade CNET, a backbone independent of ARPANET. MCI came up with the T-1 line, a type of cable that allowed for the transmission of data at speeds of 1.5 Mbps. Additionally, IBM provided much of the hardware that routed traffic around the network. The Internet’s backbone was growing. The project was scheduled for completion in 1988. With so many new players joining the network, a method for identifying entities online was developed. Domain names were assigned suffixes such as gov, mil, edu, org, com, and net.

No sooner than the T-1 line project was completed in 1988, plans were already underway to upgrade the system with the T-3 line, which could accommodate a 45 MBPS connection. In 1990 the Department of Defense dissolved ARPANET and replaced it with NSFNET, the backbone jointly developed by ARPANET and the National Science Foundation.

Also, in the early 1990s Tim Berners-Lee, working with a European consortium called CERN, introduced the hypertext system to the Net. Software Developed by Berners-Lee allowed users of the Internet to view a wide variety of documents created by different software applications. By combining the Internet with hypertext he created hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), and hypertext markup language (HTML), as well as the first Web browser called World Wide Web.

This was initially done because Berners-Lee himself had so much difficulty accessing documents on the Internet. He made his programs available on the Internet. People began using the protocol and developing browsers of their own. The World Wide Web was born. Tim Berners-Lee is the founder of the World Wide Web Consortium, an organization that works to provide direction and unity to the Web.

Though the terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably, one can see that the Web is actually a sub-set of the Internet. For the most part, documents available on the Web are ones using hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and written in hypertext markup language (HTML). Until this system was developed the Internet was used mainly by devoted computer enthusiasts with little focus on the medium’s commercial potential. The Web changed that.

As the 1990s progressed, interest was growing in the Web. Despite the fact that random individuals were creating primitive Web browsers designed to view HTML documents, there was still no easy way for the average person to access much of the information available on the Web. In 1993 Marc Andreessen, working with the University of Illinois and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, created a Web browser called Mosaic XX. Andreessen later went on to start Netscape Communications with SGI founder Jim Clark. Netscape Navigator, the first practical Web Browser available to the masses brought the World Wide Web to the world.

The backbone for the Internet is no longer maintained by the earlier supporters of the network such as the Department of Defense or the National Science Foundation. Though they still play a part in the ongoing business of the Internet, it’s private carriers such as AT&T, GTE, MCI, and the many other telcoms that support the giant network. The Internet has existed for more than 40 years but the Web is virtually a baby. It’s no secret that the medium has become a commercial goldmine for some, and is sure to create many fortunes in the future. Just about anything you could ever want can be had there.

From time to time I hear the question, “Who owns the Internet”? The answer is, anyone, no one, and everyone. The theory behind the Net’s original design still holds. That is, there should be no central or controlling unit for the network. And I think that’s what makes it great. Our government might try to regulate it, but how can anything that spans the entire globe be regulated?

And if it were regulated, how could the laws be enforced? There has been some noise about restricting online gambling in this country and Net casinos simply moved offshore. I think that was a lesson to some politicians that this thing is just too big to tackle, for now. But why try to analyze it? It’s here, and it’s loaded with interesting and fun things to do. It provides opportunity for those willing to learn how it works. Why not simply enjoy it?

So, is it any clearer as to who invented the Net? For my money, I’d have to say it was Paul Baran while working for the Rand Corp. He came up with the original idea. But it’s obvious that no one individual can take credit for inventing the Internet. The medium as we know it today has evolved a great deal since its inception in 1969. And the Internet, especially the World Wide Web, is still in its infancy. Many people contributed. It should be fun to watch where it goes from here.

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