1957USSR Launches SputnikUSSR Launches Sputnik into space and, with it, global communications.

1958Bell Labs Invents

Modem

Bell Labs researchers invent the modem

(modulator - demodulator), which

converts digital signals to electrical (analog) signals

and back, enabling communication between

computers.

1958U.S. Government

Creates ARPA

The United States government creates the

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in response to Sputnik

launch.

1964 — 1967

Paul Baran, Donald Davies Develop Message Blocks/Packet-

switching

The Rand Corporation's Paul Baran develops message blocks in

the U.S., while Donald Watts Davies, at the National Physical

Laboratory in Britain, simultaneously creates a similar

technology called packet-switching. The technology

revolutionizes data communications.

1965

ARPA Sponsors Networking Study

ARPA sponsors study on "cooperative network of time-

sharing computers."

1965

Lawrence Roberts & Thomas Marill Create First Wide-area Network

Lawrence Roberts (MIT) and Thomas Marill get an ARPA

contract to create the first wide-area network (WAN) connection

via long distant dial-up between a TX-2 computer in Massachusetts

and a Q-32 computer in California. The system confirms that packet

switching offers the most promising model for

communication between computers.

1964 — 1967

Charles Herzfeld Approves Funds for Computer

Networking Experiment

As ARPA director, Charles Herzfeld approves funding to

develop a networking experiment that would tie

together multiple universities funded by the agency. The

result would be the ARPAnet, the first packet network and a

predecessor to today’s Internet.

1965

Bolt Beranek and Newman Wins IMP Development

Contract

Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN) is awarded the ARPA

contract to build the Interface Message Processors.

1965

IMP Network Links First Four Nodes

The physical Interface Message Processor (IMP) network is

constructed, linking four nodes: University of California at Los

Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara, and University of Utah.

1961Leonard Kleinrock Pioneers

Packet-SwitchingLeonard Kleinrock pioneers the packet-switching concept in his

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) doctoral

thesis about queueing theory: Information Flow in Large Communication Nets.

1962J.C.R. Licklider Conceives

Intergalactic NetworkJ.C.R. Licklider writes memos

about his Intergalactic Network concept of networked

computers and becomes the first head of the computer research program at ARPA.

ASCII Is DevelopedThe first universal standard for

computers, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information

Exchange) is developed by a joint industry-government committee. ASCII permits machines from different

manufacturers to exchange data.

The United States government creates the Advanced Research

Projects Agency (ARPA) in response to Sputnik launch.

Timeline History

1964 — 1967

IMP Network Grows

Fifteen nodes (23 hosts) comprise the IMP network.

1972

Ray Tomlinson Invents Email

Ray Tomlinson of BBN invents the email program to send

messages across a distributed network. The "@" sign is

chosen from the punctuation keys on Tomlinson's Model 33

Teletype to separate local from global emails, making

"user@host" the email standard.

1973

TCP/IP Protocol Development Begins

Development begins on what will eventually be called TCP/IP protocol by a group headed by Vint Cerf (Stanford) and Robert

Kahn (DARPA). The new protocol will allow diverse

computer networks to interconnect and communicate

with each other.

1974

Vint Cerf, Robert Kahn Coin 'Internet'

Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn publish "A Protocol for Packet Network

Interconnection" which specifies in detail the design of a

Transmission Control Program (TCP) and coins the term

“Internet” for the first time.

1977Lawrence Landweber Creates Computer Science Network

Lawrence Landweber creates CSNET (Computer Science

Network), a network for all US university and industrial computer

research groups. By 1984, over 180 university, industrial, and government computer science

departments are participating in CSNET.

1980 — 1989

Lawrence Landweber Forges First U.S.- Europe Network Gateways

Lawrence Landweber establishes the first network gateways

between the U.S. and European countries. He also establishes the “Landweber Conferences,” which

are instrumental in showing scientists from around the world

how to implement national academic and research networks

in their countries.

1982Kilnam Chon Connects

Asia to InternetKilnam Chon, a Professor

at Keio University in Japan, develops the first Internet connection in

Asia, called SDN, and his pioneering work inspires

others to promote the Internet’s regional

growth.

1984First Email in GermanyThe first email arrives in Germany from the U.S.

on August 3, 1984. "Willkommen CSNET," it

says. Werner Zorn plays a critical role in this event

and establishing the German Internet.

1987Nancy Hafkin Helps

Develop ICT In AfricaNancy Hafkin helps facilitate the ECA’s African Information

Society Initiative, which establishes the first email

connectivity in more than 10 African

countries.

1988 — 1989Van Jacobson Solves Internet

CongestionVan Jacobson develops

algorithms for the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) that help

solve the problem of congestion and are still used in

over 90% of Internet hosts today

1989Tim Berners-Lee Creates WWWAt CERN, the European Physical

Laboratory, Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web.

Robert Cailliau is a key proponent of the project, and

helps Berners-Lee author a proposal for funding. Later, Cailliau develops, along with Nicola Pellow, the first web

browser for the Mac OS operating system.

1990Linus Torvalds Creates Linux

Linus Torvalds creates Linux and becomes a leading

supporter of Open Source software.

Toru Takahashi Promotes Internet In Japan

Toru Takahashi helps bring the Internet to Japan and promotes it throughout Asia in the 1990s.

He is key to the early commercial development of the

Internet in the region.

1991Al Gore Creates Bill to Fund

"Information Superhighway"Al Gore creates the High-

performance Computing and Communications Act of 1991 (the Gore Bill), which allocates $600

million for high performance computing and helps create the

National Research and Educational Network. The Gore Bill also

creates the National Information Infrastructure, known as the Information Superhighway.

1991World Wide Web Opens to Public

The World Wide Web is made available to the public for the first

time on the Internet.

George Sadowsky helps create global Internet training team

George Sadowsky helps create the team that would train over 1,500 instructors from over 100 nations

on Internet technologies, operation, management and

governance. This initiative was crucial to the Internet’s global

expansion.

1993NCSA Releases Mosaic Browser

The National Center for Supercomputing

Applications (NCSA) releases the Mosaic browser, which helps popularize the World

Wide Web among the general public.

1996Brewster Kahle Founds Internet Archive; Email Surpasses Postal Mail

There is more email than postal mail in the U.S., and Brewster

Kahle founds the Internet Archive, a free digital library

with a mission to provide “universal access to all

knowledge.” Chronicling over 85 billion pieces of deep Web

geology, Kahle creates a history of the Internet’s formation.

1998Blogs First Appear

The advent of web publishing tools available to non-technical

users spurs the rise of blogs.1999

Mitchell Baker Helps Found Mozilla Project

Mitchell Baker gets involved in the Mozilla Project and becomes a

founding chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation.

She helps legitimize Open Source Internet application

clients.

2000Nii Quaynor Brings Internet to Africa

Professor Nii Quaynor, known as Africa’s ‘Father of the Internet,’ convenes the first training workshop

for the African Network Operators’ Group. His

efforts have a profound impact on the continent’s

Internet growth.

2000Aaron Swartz Co-Creates

RSSAaron Swartz co-creates

RSS, a program that collects news from various web pages and puts them in one place for readers, with the goal of making

information freely available to everyone.

2001Jimmy Wales Launches

WikipediaJimmy Wales launches

Wikipedia. There are half a million Internet users.

2006Nancy Hafkin Pens

"Cinderella or Cyberella?"Dr. Nancy Hafkin

authors Cinderella or Cyberella?: Empowering

Women in the Knowledge Society, a collection of

essays that examines how information and communications

technologies empower women.

2010China Dominates Internet

UsageBy 2010, there are over

450 million Chinese Internet users.

SOURCE:

http://www.internethalloffame.org/internet-history/timeline