The Invention of the Internet

Yoel Feinberg

Period 1

The Invention of the Internet

The Arpanet:

In 1962 during the Cold War, the threat of a Soviet missile strike hung above the United States. A major concern for military experts and scientists was that the correct placement of just one missile could knock out long-distance communication and telephone lines of which the country depended on. With the need for a better communication system came the goal of achieving communication beyond physical boundaries in a "galactic network". From this, the idea ARPAnet, named after the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency, began. Throughout the 60's and onwards, scientists worked on achieving a functioning communications system with Internet. A computer at this time took the space of a small house, so you can imagine that it was not accessible to a wide variety of people. In 1969, the first ever message was delivered from a computer in UCLA to a computer in Stanford. The message was meant to say LOGIN, but Stanford's computer only received the message "LO". While the technology was not yet applicable, this test was a success. Then, throughout the 70's, the ARPAnet would grow from only having 4 computers connected. Throughout the 1980's the computers were used for the same purpose of sending messages, but in 1991, the Internet was given a new purpose.

The Internet we know today:

In 1991, Tim Burners Lee introduced the "World Wide Web", which would not only send messages, but actually create a "web" of information that anyone with a computer could access and retrieve. Ever since this concept, the internet has evolved into what it has become today. We have upgraded convenience through the creation of better search engines like google, and we have even introduced a relationship based aspect to the internet with the creation of programs such as Facebook and Instagram

Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/invention-of-the-internet