This document discusses the evolution of grid computing from its origins in parallel and distributed computing. It outlines how early research in parallel programming and distributed systems in the 1980s-1990s led to the development of tools and systems like NOWs, DCE, and CORBA that enabled groups of machines to work together. However, issues around resource discovery, security, fault tolerance remained. A major demonstration called the I-WAY in 1995 helped crystallize the potential of distributed computing. This led to projects like Globus, Legion and Condor in the late 1990s that began developing middleware and services to more seamlessly integrate distributed resources, laying the foundation for modern grid computing.