This document provides a timeline of key events in the development of computers and the internet from 1962 to 1992. It outlines early innovations like Sketchpad and concepts like packet switching. Major milestones are the launch of ARPANET in the 1970s connecting nodes monthly, the demonstration of Ethernet in 1974, and the introduction of personal computers from Apple and IBM in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The timeline also notes the expansion of the internet to other countries in 1989 and the launch of the World Wide Web in 1992 which fueled exponential growth of the internet.

2. 1962
• Ivan Sutherland uses the TX-2 to
write Sketchpad.
• J.C.R. Licklider
writes memos about
his Intergalactic
Network concept.
• Leonard Kleinrock
completes his
doctoral dissertation
at MIT.
• SAGE (Semi
Automatic Ground
Environment)
1963
• Syncom, the first
synchronous
communication
satellite, is launched.
1964
• Baran is one to first
publish
1965
• DEC unveils the
PDP-8, the first
commercially
successful
minicomputer.
1966
Simultaneously, the
English inventor of
packet
switching, Donald
Davies, is theorizing at
the British National
Physical Laboratory.

3. 1970
Nodes are added to the
ARPANET at the rate of
one per month.
1974
Ethernet is demonstrated
by networking Xerox
PARC’s new Alto
computers.
1977 Steve Wozniak and
Steve Jobs announce the
Apple II computer.
1978
First very small
computers and their
potential for
communication via
modem.
1979
Larry Landweber at
Wisconsin holds a
meeting with six other
universities to discuss
the possibility of
building a Computer
Science Research
Network to be called
CSNET.

4. 1981
The IBM PC is launched
in August 1981.
1982
Time magazine names
‘the computer’ its ‘Man
of the Year.
1984
In January, Apple
announces the
Macintosh. Its userfriendly interface swells
the ranks of new
computer users.
1986
USENET starts a major
shakeup which becomes
known as the ‘Great
Renaming’.
1989
Australia, Germany, Isra
el, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
Netherlands, New
Zealand and the United
Kingdom join the
Internet.

5. 1990
Several search tools, such as
ARCHIE, Gopher, and WAIS start to
appear.
1991
WAIS’s and Gophers help meet the
challenge of searching for information
throughout this exploding
infrastructure of computers.
1992
The WWW bursts into the world and
the growth of the Internet explodes like
a supernova.