The origins of the internet are rooted in the USA of the 1950s. The Cold War was at its height and huge tensions existed between North America and the Soviet Union. Both superpowers were in possession of deadly nuclear weapons, and people lived in fear of long-range surprise attacks. The US realized it needed a communications system that could not be affected by a Soviet nuclear attack. At this time, computers were large, expensive machines exclusively used by military scientists and university staff. These machines were powerful but limited in numbers, and researchers grew increasingly frustrated: they required access to the technology, but had to travel great distances to use it. To solve this problem, researchers started ‘time-sharing’. This meant that users could simultaneously access a mainframe computer through a series of terminals, although individually they had only a fraction of the computer’s actual power at their command. The difficulty of using such systems led various scientists, engineers and organizations to research the possibility of a large-scale computer network. No one person invented the internet. When networking technology was first developed, a number of scientists and engineers brought their research together to create the ARPANET. Later, other inventors’ creations paved the way for the web as we know it today. In 1965, Lawrence Roberts made two separate computers in different places ‘talk’ to each other for the first time. This experimental link used a telephone line with an acoustically coupled modem, and transferred digital data using packets. When the first packet-switching network was developed, Leonard Kleinrock was the first person to use it to send a message. He used a computer at UCLA to send a message to a computer at Stanford. Kleinrock tried to type ‘login’ but the system crashed after the letters ‘L’ and ‘O’ had appeared on the Stanford monitor. A second attempt proved successful and more messages were exchanged between the two sites. The ARPANET was born. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1958, bringing together some of the best scientific minds in the country. Their aim was to help American military technology stay ahead of its enemies and prevent surprises, such as the launch of the satellite Sputnik 1, happening again. Among ARPA’s projects was a remit to test the feasibility of a large-scale computer network. Lawrence Roberts was responsible for developing computer networks at ARPA, working with scientist Leonard Kleinrock. Roberts was the first person to connect two computers. When the first packet-switching network was developed in 1969, Kleinrock successfully used it to send messages to another site, and the ARPA Network—or ARPANET—was born. Once ARPANET was up and running, it quickly expanded. By 1973, 30 academic, military and research institutions had joined the network, connecting locations including Hawaii, Norway and the UK. As ARPANET grew

1. THE ORIGINS OF THE INTERNET

2. • The origins of the internet are rooted in the USA
of the 1950s. The Cold War was at its height and
huge tensions existed between North America
and the Soviet Union. Both superpowers were in
possession of deadly nuclear weapons, and
people lived in fear of long-range surprise attacks.
The US realized it needed a communications
system that could not be affected by a Soviet
nuclear attack.
• At this time, computers were large, expensive
machines exclusively used by military scientists
and university staff.

3. Elliott/NRDC 401 Computer MkI, c.1953.
The Elliott-NRDC 401 was one of the first electronic computers, developed by British electrical
company Elliott Brothers in 1952 when machines of this type could span 4 metres in length
and weigh over a ton.

4. • These machines were powerful but limited in numbers,
and researchers grew increasingly frustrated: they
required access to the technology, but had to travel
great distances to use it.
• To solve this problem, researchers started ‘time-
sharing’. This meant that users could simultaneously
access a mainframe computer through a series of
terminals, although individually they had only a
fraction of the computer’s actual power at their
command.
• The difficulty of using such systems led various
scientists, engineers and organizations to research the
possibility of a large-scale computer network.

5. WHO INVENTED THE INTERNET?
• No one person invented the internet. When
networking technology was first developed, a
number of scientists and engineers brought
their research together to create the
ARPANET. Later, other inventors’ creations
paved the way for the web as we know it
today.

6. PAUL BARAN (1926–2011)
• An engineer whose work
overlapped with ARPA’s research.
In 1959 he joined an American
think tank, the RAND
Corporation, and was asked to
research how the US Air Force
could keep control of its fleet if a
nuclear attack ever happened.
In 1964 Baran proposed a
communication network with no
central command point. If one
point was destroyed, all surviving
points would still be able to
communicate with each other. He
called this a distributed network.

7. • LAWRENCE ROBERTS (1937–2018)
• Chief scientist at ARPA,
responsible for developing
computer networks.
• Paul Baran’s idea appealed
to Roberts, and he began to
work on the creation of a
distributed network.

8. • LEONARD KLEINROCK (1934–)
• An American scientist who
worked towards the
creation of a distributed
network alongside
Lawrence Roberts.

9. • A British scientist who, at
the same time as Roberts
and Kleinrock, was
developing similar
technology at the National
Physical Laboratory in
Middlesex.

10. BOB KAHN (1938–) AND VINT CERF (1943–)
• American computer scientists
who developed TCP/IP, the
set of protocols that governs
how data moves through a
network. This helped the
ARPANET evolve into the
internet we use today.
• Vint Cerf is credited with the
first written use of the word
‘internet’.

11. • PAUL MOCKAPETRIS (1948–) AND JON
POSTEL (1943–98)
• Inventors of DNS, the
‘phone book of the
internet’.

12. TIM BERNERS-LEE (1955–)
• Creator of the World Wide
Web who developed many of
the principles we still use
today, such as HTML, HTTP,
URLs and web browsers.
• Hyper Text Mark up Language
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• Uniform Resource Locators

13. • MARC ANDREESSEN (1971–)
• an American
businessman and
software engineer. He is
the co-author of Mosaic,
the first widely used web
browser with a graphical
user interface; co-founder
of Netscape

14. THE FIRST USE OF A COMPUTER
NETWORK
• In 1965, Lawrence Roberts made two separate computers
in different places ‘talk’ to each other for the first time. This
experimental link used a telephone line with an acoustically
coupled modem, and transferred digital data using packets.
• When the first packet-switching network was developed,
Leonard Kleinrock was the first person to use it to send a
message. He used a computer at UCLA to send a message
to a computer at Stanford. Kleinrock tried to type ‘login’
but the system crashed after the letters ‘L’ and ‘O’ had
appeared on the Stanford monitor.
• A second attempt proved successful and more messages
were exchanged between the two sites. The ARPANET was
born.

15. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE
ARPANET
• President Dwight D. Eisenhower formed the Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1958, bringing together some of the best
scientific minds in the country. Their aim was to help American
military technology stay ahead of its enemies and prevent surprises,
such as the launch of the satellite Sputnik 1, happening again.
Among ARPA’s projects was a remit to test the feasibility of a large-
scale computer network.
• Lawrence Roberts was responsible for developing computer
networks at ARPA, working with scientist Leonard Kleinrock.
• Roberts was the first person to connect two computers. When the
first packet-switching network was developed in 1969, Kleinrock
successfully used it to send messages to another site, and the ARPA
Network—or ARPANET—was born.

16. • Once ARPANET was up and running, it quickly expanded. By 1973,
30 academic, military and research institutions had joined the
network, connecting locations including Hawaii, Norway and the
UK.
• As ARPANET grew, a set of rules for handling data packets needed
to be put in place. In 1974, computer scientists Bob Kahn and Vint
Cerf invented a new method called transmission-control protocol,
popularly known as TCP/IP, which essentially allowed computers to
speak the same language.
• After the introduction of TCP/IP, ARPANET quickly grew to become a
global interconnected network of networks, or ‘Internet’.
• The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990.

17. WHAT IS PACKET SWITCHING?
• ‘Packet switching’ is a method of splitting and
sending data. A computer file is effectively broken
up into thousands of small segments called
‘packets’—each typically around 1500 bytes—
distributed across a network, and then reordered
back into a single file at their destination. The
packet switching method is very reliable and
allows data to be sent securely, even over
damaged networks; it also uses bandwidth very
efficiently and doesn’t need a single dedicated
link, like a telephone call does.

18. • The world’s first packet-switching computer
network was produced in 1969. Computers at
four American universities were connected
using separate minicomputers known as
‘Interface Message Processors’ or ‘IMPs’. The
IMPs acted as gateways for the packets and
have since evolved into what we now call
‘routers’.
• Packet switching is the basis on which the
internet still works today.

19. WHAT IS TCP/IP?
• TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol. The term is used to
describe a set of protocols that govern how data moves
through a network.
• After the creation of ARPANET, more networks of
computers began to join the network, and the need
arose for an agreed set of rules for handling data. In
1974 two American computer scientists, Bob Kahn and
Vint Cerf, proposed a new method that involved
sending data packets in a digital envelope or
‘datagram’. The address on the datagram can be read
by any computer, but only the final host machine can
open the envelope and read the message inside.

20. • Kahn and Cerf called this method transmission-control
protocol (TCP). TCP allowed computers to speak the
same language, and it helped the ARPANET to grow
into a global interconnected network of networks, an
example of ‘internetworking’—internet for short.
• IP stands for Internet Protocol and, when combined
with TCP, helps internet traffic find its destination.
Every device connected to the internet is given a
unique IP number.
• Known as an IP address, the number can be used to
find the location of any internet-connected device in
the world.

21. WHAT IS DNS?
• DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is the internet’s
equivalent of a phone book, and converts hard-to-
remember IP addresses into simple names.
• In the early 1980s, cheaper technology and the appearance
of desktop computers allowed the rapid development of
local area networks (LANs). An increase in the amount of
computers on the network made it difficult to keep track of
all the different IP addresses.
• This problem was solved by the introduction of the Domain
Name System (DNS) in 1983. DNS was invented by Paul
Mockapetris and Jon Postel at the University of Southern
California.
• It was one of the innovations that paved the way for the
World Wide Web.

22. THE BEGINNINGS OF EMAIL
• Email was a rapid—but unintended—consequence of the
growth of ARPANET. As the network increased in
popularity and scope, users quickly realized the potential
of the network as a tool for sending messages between
different ARPANET computers.
• Ray Tomlinson, an American computer programmer, is
responsible for electronic mail as we know it today. He
introduced the idea that the destination of a message
should be indicated using the @ symbol, which was first
used to distinguish between the individual user’s name
and that of their computer (i.e. user@computer).
• When DNS was introduced, this was extended
to user@host.domain.

23. • Early email users sent personal messages and
began mailing lists on specific topics. One of
the first big mailing lists was ‘SF-LOVERS’ for
science fiction fans.
• The development of email showed how the
network had transformed. Rather than a way
of accessing expensive computing power, it
had started to become a place to
communicate, gossip and make friends.

24. EARLY HOME COMPUTERS
• From the 1970s onwards, the home computer
industry grew exponentially. The uptake of home
computers was not necessarily driven by users’
needs or a computer’s functionality; early
machines could actually do relatively little. The
appeal to the consumer was the idea of
becoming part of the ‘Information Revolution’.
Computers were embedded with the rhetoric of
the future and learning, but in most cases this
meant learning to program so that people could
actually make the technology do something, such
as play games.

25. Commodore PET-2001-8- BS PC 1977
Apple 1 PC 1976-1979 Tandy Radio Shack 1978-80

26. THE GROWTH OF THE INTERNET,
1985–95
• The invention of DNS, the common use of TCP/IP and the popularity of
email caused an explosion of activity on the internet. Between 1986 and
1987, the network grew from 2,000 hosts to 30,000. People were now
using the internet to send messages to each other, read news and swap
files. However, advanced knowledge of computing was still needed to dial
in to the system and use it effectively, and there was still no agreement on
the way that documents on the network were formatted.
• The internet needed to be easier to use. An answer to the problem
appeared in 1989 when a British computer scientist named Tim Berners-
Lee submitted a proposal to his employer, CERN, the international
particle-research laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Berners-Lee proposed
a new way of structuring and linking all the information available on
CERN’s computer network that made it quick and easy to access. His
concept for a ‘web of information’ would ultimately become the World
Wide Web.

27. • The launch of the Mosaic browser in 1993 opened up the web
to a new audience of non-academics, and people started to
discover how easy it was to create their own HTML web
pages. Consequently, the number of websites grew from 130
in 1993 to over 100,000 at the start of 1996.
• By 1995 the internet and the World Wide Web were
established phenomena: Netscape Navigator, which was the
most popular browser at the time, had around 10 million
global users.

28. HOW IS THE WORLD WIDE WEB
DIFFERENT FROM THE INTERNET?
• The terms ‘World Wide Web’ and ‘internet’ are often confused.
• The internet is the networking infrastructure that connects devices
together,
• while the World Wide Web is a way of accessing information
through the medium of the internet.
• Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the idea of a ‘web of information’ in
1989.
• It relied on ‘hyperlinks’ to connect documents together. Written in
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), a hyperlink can point to any
other HTML page or file that sits on top of the internet.

29. • In 1990, Berners-Lee developed Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) and designed the Universal Resource
Identifier (URI) system.
• HTTP is the language computers use to communicate
HTML documents over the internet, and the URI, also
known as a URL, provides a unique address where the
pages can be easily found.
• Berners-Lee also created a piece of software that could
present HTML documents in an easy-to-read format.
He called this ‘browser’ the ‘WorldWideWeb’.

30. • On 6 August 1991 the code to create more web pages
and the software to view them was made freely
available on the internet. Computer enthusiasts around
the world began setting up their own websites. Berners-
Lee’s vision of a free, global and shared information
space began to take shape.

32. THE INTRODUCTION OF WEB
BROWSERS
• Tim Berners-Lee was the first to create a piece of software that could
present HTML documents in an easy-to-read format. He called this
‘browser’ the ‘WorldWideWeb’.
• However, this original application had limited use as it could only be used
on advanced NeXT machines. A simplified version that could run on any
computer was created by Nicola Pellow, a maths student who worked
alongside Berners-Lee at CERN.
• In 1993, Marc Andreessen, an American student in Illinois, launched a new
browser called Mosaic. Created at the National Center for Super-
computing Applications (NCSA), Mosaic was easy to download and install,
worked on many different computers and provided simple point-and-click
access to the World Wide Web. Mosaic was also the first browser to
display images next to text, rather than in a separate window.

33. • Mosaic’s simplicity opened the web up to a new
audience, and caused an explosion of activity on the
internet, with the number of websites growing from
130 in 1993 to over 100,000 at the start of 1996.
• In 1994 Andreesen formed Netscape Communications
with entrepreneur Jim Clark. They led the company to
create Netscape Navigator, a widely used internet
browser that at the time was faster and more
sophisticated than any of the competition. By 1995,
Navigator had around 10 million global users.

34. EARLY ECOMMERCE AND THE
‘DOTCOM BUBBLE’
• The enormous excitement surrounding the internet led to a
massive boom in new technology shares between 1998 and
2000. This became known as the ‘dotcom bubble’.
• The claim was that world industry was experiencing a ‘new
economic paradigm’, the likes of which had never been
experienced before. Investors in the stock market began to
believe the hype and threw themselves into a frenzy of
activity. The internet was thought to be central to economic
growth, while share prices implied that new online
companies carried the seeds for expansion. This led in turn
to a feverish level of investment and unrealistic
expectations about rates of return.

35. • We have entered a period of sustained growth
that could eventually double the world’s
economy every dozen years and bring increasing
prosperity for—quite literally—billions of people
on the planet. We are riding the early waves of a
25-year run of a greatly expanding economy that
will do much to solve seemingly intractable
problems like poverty and to ease tensions
throughout the world.
• —Peter Schwartz and Peter Leyden, Wired, July
1997

36. • Venture capitalists flourished and many
companies were founded on dubious business
plans. The most notorious of these was the high
fashion online retailer Boo.com, which spent its
way through $200 million, only to collapse within
six months of its website going live.
• However, despite their failure, such businesses
helped cause a fundamental transformation and
left an important legacy. Many investors lost
money, but they also helped to finance the new
system and lay the groundwork for future success
in ecommerce.

37. REFERENCES:
• FURTHER READING
• ONLINE
• Brief History of the Internet, Internet Society
• Internet History 1962 to 1992, Computer History Museum
• Internet Pioneers, ibiblio
• Tim Berners-Lee biography, World Wide Web Consortium
• The World Wide Web: A global information space, Science Museum
• BOOKS
• John Naughton, A Brief History of the Future: The Origins of the
Internet, 1999
• Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The
Origins of the Internet, 1996
• Tim Berners-Lee, Weaving the Web, 1999