1. 1958
Bell 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.
U.S. Government Creates ARPA
The United States government creates the Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA) in response to Sputnik launch.
1961
Leonard Kleinrock Pioneers Packet-Switching
Leonard Kleinrock pioneers the packet-switching
concept in his Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) doctoral thesis about queueing
theory: Information Flow in Large Communication
Nets.
1962
J.C.R. Licklider Conceives Intergalactic Network
J.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.

2. 1963
ASCII Is Developed
The 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
1964 — 1967
Paul Baran, Donald Davies Develop Message Blocks/Packetswitching
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 packetswitching. The technology revolutionizes data communications.
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.

3. 1966
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.
Lawrence Roberts Leads Networking Experiment
Building on the 1965 “Cooperative Network of Time-sharing Computers”
study, MIT’s Lawrence Roberts comes to ARPA to conduct the networking
experiment and develop the first ARPAnet plan ("Towards a Cooperative
Network of Time-Shared Computers").
1967
ARPAnet Design Begins
Lawrence Roberts leads ARPAnet design discussions and publishes first ARPAnet
design paper: "Multiple Computer Networks and Intercomputer Communication."
Wesley Clark suggests the network is managed by interconnected ‘Interface
Message Processors’ in front of the major computers. Called IMPs, they evolve
into today’s routers.
Donald Davies Publishes First Packet-switching Paper
Donald Watts Davies of the National Physical Laboratory in England publishes his
paper on “packet-switching,” the term he coins.
1968
UCLA Develops ARPAnet Host Level Protocols
Steve Crocker heads UCLA Network Working Group under Professor
Leonard Kleinrock to develop host level protocols for ARPAnet
communication in preparation for becoming the first node. The
group, which includes Vint Cerf and Jon Postel, lays the foundation for
protocols of the modern Internet.
1969
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.

4. 1970
Peter Kirstein Starts European ARPAnet
Professor Peter Kirstein of University College London starts the first
European ARPAnet node with transatlantic IP connectivity.
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.
Robert Kahn Demonstrates ARPAnet to Public
Robert Kahn demonstrates the ARPAnet to the public for the first time by
connecting 20 different computers at the International Computer
Communication Conference, and in doing so, imparts the importance of
packet-switching technology.
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.

5. 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.
1981
-
Visual Simulator Runs Over ARPAnet
Danny Cohen adapts the visual simulator to run over the ARPAnet, the first
application of packet- switching networks to real-time applications.
1988 — 1989
Van Jacobson Solves Internet Congestion
Van 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.
1989
Tim Berners-Lee Creates WWW
At 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
1991
World Wide Web Opens to Public
The World Wide Web is made available to the public for the first time on the
Internet.
1993
NCSA 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
-1996
See more at:
http://www.internethalloffame.org/internetBrewster Kahle Founds Internet Archive; Email Surpasses Postal
history/timeline#sthash.Xg8IiQnD.dpuf
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.
- See more at: http://www.internethalloffame.org/internethistory/timeline#sthash.Xg8IiQnD.dpuf

6. 1998
Blogs First Appear
The advent of web publishing tools available to non-technical users spurs
the rise of blogs.
Tan Tin Wee Founds Multilingual Internet DNS
Tan Tin Wee founds the multilingual Internet domain name system and is
instrumental in its internationalization. In the 1990s, under his
leadership, Singapore hosts the first Chinese and Tamil websites. He is widely
recognized for his award-winning technological efforts in the Tamil-speaking
community and guides the development of the Tamil Internet
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.
Craig Newmark Founds Craigslist
Craig Newmark founds Craigslist, which is to become one of the most widely used
websites on the Internet. He changes the way people used
classifieds, transforming it into a largely Internet-based industry.
2001
Jimmy Wales Launches Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales launches Wikipedia. There are half a million Internet users.