History of the Internet

Computers could multitask

1944

Mark I was the first computer programmed to do multiple computing tasks. It was created by Howard Aiken, a Harvard professor, in 1944. It was known as the first PC or personal computer.

Packet switching was invented

1960

Like the development of hypertext, packet switching seems to have been an idea that wanted to be discovered. The packet switching concept was first invented by Paul Baran in the early 1960's, and then independently a few years later by Donald Davies.

Invention of ARPANET

1969

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Transmission Control Protocol invention

1979

The Transmission Control Protocol provides a communication service at an intermediate level between an application program and the Internet Protocol. It provides host-to-host connectivity at the transport layer of the Internet model.

Broadband took over Dial-Up

1980

In the late 1980s, Joseph Lechleider, of Bellcore, demonstrated the feasibility of sending broadband signals, establishing his place in history as the originator of broadband technologies. He developed the idea of asymmetry (the A in ADSL), which suggested that a higher rate of data could be sent in one direction and that suggestion help boost broadband's popularity to overtake Dial-Up

Invention of the Web

1989

English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He wrote the first web browser in 1990 while employed at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. The browser was released outside CERN in 1991, first to other research institutions starting in January 1991 and then to the general public in August 1991.

Web was made public

1993

On April 30, 1993, four years after publishing a proposal for “an idea of linked information systems,” computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the world’s first web browser and editor. Originally called Mesh, the browser that he dubbed WorldWideWeb became the first royalty-free, easy-to-use means of browsing the emerging information network that developed into the internet.

NSFNET shut down

1995

NSFNET could not handle all the information that was being transmitted to it and was too slow so it had to shut down

Yahoo! bought GeoCities

1999

GeoCities was purchased by Yahoo! for $3.57 billion in stock, with Yahoo! taking control on May 28. The acquisition proved unpopular; users began to quit en masse in protest at the new terms of service specified by Yahoo! for GeoCities.

Facebook was created

2003

Facebook is a social networking service launched as FaceMash in July 2003, but later changing to TheFacebook on February 4, 2004. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommate and fellow Harvard University student Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.