-
ARPANET is Conceptualized
The idea of a base that could not be destroyed with physical attacks sparked among the Americans during the Cold War. Designed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) with the use of the “Network Control Protocol”, ARPANET was to become a network connected to supercomputers across the United States that could transmit messages between each other. The former ARPA director, Charles Herzfeld, stated that they wanted more researchers across the country to have access to computers near them. -
The First Message
A student at the University of California Los Angeles, Charles Kline, had sent the first message through ARPANET. Attempting to transmit the word, “LOGIN” to a computer at the Stanford Research Institution, the system unfortunately crashed. In turn, only the “L” and the “O” were successfully sent through. However, the remaining characters of the text were eventually transmitted once the error had been resolved. This test signified the beginning of the Internet. -
The Introduction of Network Email
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Raymond Samuel Tomlinson sent the first email from one computer to another through ARPANET. To achieve this outcome, Tomlinson had merged the programs of SNDMSG and CPYNET. SNDMSG allowed users to send mail to each other so long as both mail boxes were on the same computer. CPYNET allowed the transferring of files between separate computers. Once he successfully created network email, Tomlinson used the “@” symbol to discern between network email and local email. -
The Term “Internet” is Coined after two more Institutions Join
Across the United States of America, universities conducting defense research were connected to the Department of Defense through ARPANET. After famous institutions such as the Royal Radar Network of Norway and University College of London had joined this global network, the idea of networking itself was realized. Stanford University students, Carl Sunshine, Yogen Dalal, and Vinton Cerf, would be the first to use the term “Internet” as a means of describing such an interconnected network. -
The Initial Designs of TCP and IP
Written by electrical engineer Robert Elliot Kahn and Stanford University student Vinton Cerf, “A Protocol for Packet Network Interconnection” was an article published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) containing the designs of a protocol that would centralize around connectivity and the transferring of data. Soon after, the pair realized that this protocol could be divided into two as when an application managed a network connection itself, it could function better. -
A Royal Email
To announce the creation of a new programming language, Queen Elizabeth II became the first royal to send an email. Set up by Peter Kirstein, the meeting took place in Malvern, England at a telecommunications facility powered by the World Wide Web, Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. Queen Elizabeth II’s email was titled “A Message from Her Majesty the Queen” and was sent from the address, “HME2”. -
USENET is Created
Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott, graduate students at Duke University, established User Network (USENET), a platform of communication that allowed users around the globe to discuss chosen topics and enhance the discussion of academics between international universities. The original draft was designed in North Carolina using a protocol called “UNIX-to-UNIX” to transmit data between devices. USENET connected to Duke University, Duke Medical School, and the University of North Carolina to begin with. -
The National Science Foundation Provides Funding for CSNET
In 1981, the National Science Foundation considered providing networking services to individuals who did not have access to the internet because they were not part of the Department of Defense such as computer science university students. In order to do this, NSF contributed funds towards the creation of the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In turn, this exposure increased the userbase of the internet by thousands. -
The Formation of TCP and IP
To create ARPANET, a series of protocols were used to form its structure. Unfortunately, these protocols were acquired from pre-existing technologies. Because ARPANET was a newer system, it exceeded the limitations of its protocols. Developers foresaw this and designed modern protocols known as TCP and IP. TCP (transmission control protocol) would focus on the transportation of data and the establishment of connections. IP (internet protocol) would focus on the functions of the network itself. -
The Establish of Domains
In 1983, the Domain Naming System (DNS) was established to simplify the method of accessing computer addresses across ARPANET. It used shortened versions of words, such as “commercial,” to create easy-to-remember addresses such as “.com”. Prior to the existence of DNS, finding addresses on ARPANET would require recalling numerical combinations and would hinder public accessibility. -
The First Official Domain is Registered
Symbolics Computer Corporation, a computer programming company based in Massachusetts, had officially purchased the domain name, Symbolics.com. Because it became known as the very first domain name, Symbolics.com had gained much traction by those interested in what a domain actually was. Symbolics Corporation was already known for developing a programming language, Lisp, which is still relevant in our contemporary world. -
NSFNET Connects to Supercomputers
Because internet was only available to the United States’ Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation decided to give access to more users for free. At 56 000 bits per second, NSF successfully connected to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, the Cornell Theory Center, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the John Von Newman Center for Supercomputing Applications. NSFNET ran on a TCP/IP protocol and continued to evolve in speed. -
A New Coding Language
As a scientist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Tim Berners-Lee worked with his colleagues to develop a coding language that assisted in the programming and functioning of websites. Berners-lee’s inspiration was derived from the conceptualizations of an engineer named Vannevar Bush, who documented his works of his earlier projects. The new language that Tim Berners-Lee had created used the acronym “HTML”, which stood for hypertext markup language, as its name. -
The World Wide Web is Revealed
While working as a scientist at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee noticed a slight drawback in which he sought to resolve: scientists at the organization and around the world had no quick and efficient method of communicating ideas amongst each other. Berners-Lee made the decision to develop a site that would seamlessly automate the sharing of knowledge between institutions around the globe, which was accomplished and hosted on a NeXT computer. It later became a public domain on the 30th of April, 1993 -
Netscape Communications is Born
In December of 1994, the first ever web browser, Netscape Navigator, was created. Six months prior, the Mosaic Communications Corporation was established by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark. This corporation would develop the early versions of Mosaic Netscape, a browser that would make various content on the web accessible to its users. The final version that was launched to public was named Netscape Navigator and the company name had changed to Netscape Communications. -
Yahoo is Born
Graduates of Stanford University’s Electrical Engineering program, David Filo and Jerry Yang, designed a directory that would organize websites of the web in order of importance. The pair named it “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. Because the site was “yet another hierarchically organized oracle”, they used the first letters of each of these words to form its new name: “Yahoo!” It was later registered as a domain and evolved into a site that acted as a gateway to other links. -
Google is Born
In 1995, Stanford Brin, a student attending Stanford University, had been asked to give a tour of the campus to one of the potential new students. This student, Larry Page, would later partner with Brin to develop a search engine called Backrub. Connected through the World Wide Web, Backrub would use links to determine the importance of individual sites. After further development, the engine’s name would change from Backrub to Google and was officially announced to the public in 1998. -
An Attack on E-Commerce
With online shopping sites rising in popularity, hackers began turning toward them. At the age of fifteen, a Canadian with the alias, “mafiaboy”, had managed to inject trojan viruses into computers belonging to prominent companies, such as Amazon. These trojans would assume the form of ordinary files that would attack a series of computers to overload a company’s central computer. Around $1.7 billion was lost from this attack and is now known as a “denial of service attack”. -
YouTube is Born
Former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen held a party and captured several photos and videos. The internet only had services to upload photos, but not videos and so the idea of a simplistic video-sharing service transpired. Working in Hurley’s garage, the duo asked Jawed Karim, one of their former colleagues, to assist in programming. The site’s beta version was released in May of 2005. Seven months later, the official release of YouTube had taken place. -
Advancing Connectivity Speeds
Companies are working to implement a network that will introduce speeds 10 times faster than the current generation, 4G LTE. 5G will diminish the time that it would take for a device to communicate with a server and allow networks to endure more connected devices at a single time. Carriers can choose a high-band network (requires devices to be in close proximity but have ultra speeds), a low-band network (has longer range but slightly slower speeds), or a mid-band network (moderately balanced). -
Starlink works to Revolutionize Internet Speeds
A beta program is launched for Starlink, a service by SpaceX that will provide intense internet speeds ranging from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s. Starlink satellites are sixty times closer in proximity to the Earth’s surface than that of existing satellites. This will allow it to provide connection to areas that do not usually receive strong connections such as rural spaces. This will also lower the latency levels to increase the speed at which a message is sent to a server and back.
