Personal tools

Brief History and Evolution of the Internet

MIT Stata Center_051118
(MIT Ray and Maria Stata Center, Jenny Fowter)

 

The Natural Evolution of the Internet Ecosystem

 

 

A History of the Future

 

Who invented the internet? - As you might expect for a technology so expansive and ever-changing, it is impossible to credit the invention of the Internet to a single person. The Internet was the work of dozens of pioneering scientists, programmers and engineers who each developed new features and technologies that eventually merged to become the “information superhighway” we know today.

The precursor to the Internet was jumpstarted in the early days of computing history, in 1969 with the U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). ARPA-funded researchers developed many of the protocols used for Internet communication today. In the mid-90s, ARPANet was transformed from a military safety net to the civilian Internet that has become such an integral part of our lives, bringing with it change not only technological, but societal and epic in scope. 

The first data ever transmitted over ARPANet, the precursor of the Internet, blipped from a computer at the University of California, Los Angeles to one at the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto on Oct. 29, 1969.

Robert Elliot Kahn (born December 23, 1938) is an American electrical engineer, who, along with Vint Cerf, first proposed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), the fundamental communication protocols at the heart of the Internet.

Bob Metcalfe invented Ethernet in 1973 while at Xerox PARC, and the company patented it in 1975. Metcalfe and others then finalized an open Ethernet standard in 1980, and by 1985 it had become an IEEE standard.

Actually, AT&T Bell Labs at Murray Hill, NJ invented the Internet originally. AT&T Bell Labs was one of the world’s leading industrial research and scientific development giants, inventing the world’s first transistor in 1947, the first laser in 1957 and the first satellite in 1961. 

Check out the Brief History of the Internet for more information - [The Internet Society].

 

Internet Evolution

 

[Internet Society]

  • Brief History of the Internet: The Internet today is a widespread information infrastructure, the initial prototype of what is often called the National (or Global or Galactic) Information Infrastructure. Its history is complex and involves many aspects - technological, organizational, and community. And its influence reaches not only to the technical fields of computer communications but throughout society as we move toward increasing use of online tools to accomplish electronic commerce, information acquisition, and community operations.
  • What is the Internet? While it may seem like a simple question, defining the Internet isn’t easy. Because unlike any other technology, the Internet can be whatever we make it. We can shape it. We can mold it. But most importantly, we can use it to connect people, communities, and countries around the world.
  • How it Works: The Internet works because open standards allow every network to connect to every other network. This is what makes it possible for anyone to create content, offer services, and sell products without requiring permission from a central authority. It levels the playing field for everyone and it’s the reason why we have a rich diversity of applications and services that many of us enjoy today.
  • Who’s in charge of the Internet? No one is, but everyone is. Unlike the telephone network, which for years in most countries, was run by a single company, the global Internet consists of tens of thousands of interconnected networks run by service providers, individual companies, universities, governments, and others.
  • What’s the infrastructure of the Internet like? The Internet is that it’s a network of networks that needs to operate around the world as if it were one. Like policy, the technical coordination of the Internet has common characteristics: Open, Independent, Run by non-profit membership organizations that work together to meet the needs everyone. This self-regulation has been the key to the successful growth of the Internet and is flexible enough to adapt to changing future needs. Read about the technical aspects of the Internet.
  • How Is the Internet Evolving? As more and more people join the connected world, what are some of the biggest challenges we face when it comes to the future of the Internet? Find out what experts have to say about the way the Internet is changing.

 

What the Internet Looks Like

 

What is the Internet? While it may seem like a simple question, defining the Internet isn’t easy. Because unlike any other technology, the Internet can be whatever we make it. We can shape it. We can mold it. But most importantly, we can use it to connect people, communities, and countries around the world.

 

  • [CNN Labs]: What the Internet looks like: The undersea cables wiring the ends of the Earth. The information age is powered by thin fiber-optic cables buried in the sea bed, spreading between continents to connect the most remote corners of the planet. These great arteries account for practically all of our international web traffic, and each one has been logged by Washington research firm Telegeography in its interactive Submarine Cable Map 2014. (click here to find out more).
  • [Vox]: 40 maps that explain the Internet: The internet increasingly pervades our lives, delivering information to us no matter where we are. It takes a complex system of cables, servers, towers, and other infrastructure, developed over decades, to allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family so effortlessly. Here are 40 maps that will help you better understand the internet — where it came from, how it works, and how it's used by people around the world.

 

 

[More to come ...]

 

 

 

Document Actions