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USSR Launches Sputnik
USSR launches Sputnik into space and, with it, global communications. -
Bell Labs Invents Modem
Bell Labs researchers invent the modem (modulator - demodulator), which converts digital signals to electrical (analog) signals and back, enabling communication between computers. -
U.S. Government Creates ARPA
The United States government creates the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in response to Sputnik launch. -
Leonard Kleinrock Pioneers Packet-Switching
Leonard Kleinrock pioneers the packet-switching concept in his Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) doctoral thesis about queueing theory. -
J.C.R. Licklider Conceives Intergalactic Network
J.C.R. Licklider writes memos about his Intergalactic Network concept of networked computers and becomes the first head of the computer research program at ARPA. -
ASCII Is Developed
The first universal standard for computers, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Exchange) is developed by a joint industry-government committee. ASCII permits machines from different manufacturers to exchange data. -
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Paul Baran, Donald Davies Develop Message Blocks/Packet-switching
The Rand Corporation's Paul Baran develops message blocks in the U.S., while Donald Watts Davies, at the National Physical Laboratory in Britain, simultaneously creates a similar technology called packet-switching. The technology revolutionizes data communications. -
ARPA Sponsors Networking Study
ARPA sponsors study on "cooperative network of time-sharing computers." -
Lawrence Roberts & Thomas Marill Create First Wide-area Network
Lawrence Roberts (MIT) and Thomas Marill get an ARPA contract to create the first wide-area network (WAN) connection via long distant dial-up between a TX-2 computer in Massachusetts and a Q-32 computer in California. The system confirms that packet switching offers the most promising model for communication between computers. -
ARPAnet Project Initiated
Directing ARPA’s computer research program, Robert Taylor initiates the ARPAnet project, the foundation for today’s Internet. -
Charles Herzfeld Approves Funds for Computer Networking Experiment
As ARPA director, Charles Herzfeld approves funding to develop a networking experiment that would tie together multiple universities funded by the agency. The result would be the ARPAnet, the first packet network and a predecessor to today’s Internet. -
Lawrence Roberts Leads Networking Experiment
Building on the 1965 “Cooperative Network of Time-sharing Computers” study, MIT’s Lawrence Roberts comes to ARPA to conduct the networking experiment and develop the first ARPAnet plan ("Towards a Cooperative Network of Time-Shared Computers"). -
Danny Cohen Develops First Real-time Visual Flight Simulator
Danny Cohen develops the first real-time visual flight simulator on a general purpose computer and the first real-time radar simulator. His flight simulator work leads to the development of the Cohen-Sutherland computer graphics line clipping algorithms, created with Ivan Sutherland. -
ARPAnet Design Begins
Lawrence Roberts leads ARPAnet design discussions and publishes first ARPAnet design paper: "Multiple Computer Networks and Intercomputer Communication." Wesley Clark suggests the network is managed by interconnected ‘Interface Message Processors’ in front of the major computers. Called IMPs, they evolve into today’s routers. -
Donald Davies Publishes First Packet-switching Paper
Donald Watts Davies of the National Physical Laboratory in England publishes his paper on “packet-switching,” the term he coins. -
UCLA Develops ARPAnet Host Level Protocols
Steve Crocker heads UCLA Network Working Group under Professor Leonard Kleinrock to develop host level protocols for ARPAnet communication in preparation for becoming the first node. The group, which includes Vint Cerf and Jon Postel, lays the foundation for protocols of the modern Internet. -
Bolt Beranek and Newman Wins IMP Development Contract
Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN) is awarded the ARPA contract to build the Interface Message Processors. -
Kennedy Congratulates BBN On ARPA Contract
US Senator Edward Kennedy sends BBN a congratulatory telegram on winning the ARPA contract to build the "Interfaith" Message Processors. -
UCLA Team Sends First Data Packets
The first data packets are sent between networked computers on October 29th by Charley Kline at UCLA, under supervision of Professor Leonard Kleinrock. The first attempt resulted in the system crashing as the letter G of “Login” was entered. The second attempt was successful. -
ARPAnet’s Structural Proposal Written
Dr. Howard Frank co-writes the proposal that wins the contract to design the network structure for the ARPAnet. -
IMP Network Links First Four Nodes
The physical Interface Message Processor (IMP) network is constructed, linking four nodes: University of California at Los Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara, and University of Utah. -
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Key Internet Protocols Implemented
Dr. David Clark implements Internet protocols for the Multics systems, the Xerox PARC ALTO and the IBM PC. -
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IAB Established
As a DARPA manager, Dr. Barry Leiner helps establish the Internet Activities Board (later the Internet Architecture Board), which leads the effort to set early Internet technical standards. -
Tim Berners-Lee Creates WWW
At CERN, the European Physical Laboratory, Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web. Robert Cailliau is a key proponent of the project, and helps Berners-Lee author a proposal for funding. Later, Cailliau develops, along with Nicola Pellow, the first web browser for the Mac OS operating system. -
Brewster Kahle Invents First Internet Publishing System
Brewster Kahle invents the Internet’s first publishing system, WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) and founds WAIS, Inc. A precursor to today’s search engines, WAIS is one of the first programs to index large amounts of data and make it searchable across large networks. -
Geoff Huston Helps Deploy Australian Internet
Geoff Huston leads the effort to bring the Internet from the academic and research sector to the Australian public. Through his work with Australian communications service provider, Telstra, he helps facilitate the large-scale deployment of the Internet across Australia and as a transit service provider in the Asia Pacific region. -
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Linus Torvalds Creates Linux
Linus Torvalds creates Linux and becomes a leading supporter of Open Source software. -
DNSSEC Introduced
Lowinder makes it her passion to convince the .SE board to understand the importance of DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions), the Internet protocol guards that enable users to be sure they are visiting a secure site. -
Mitchell Baker Helps Found Mozilla Project
Mitchell Baker gets involved in the Mozilla Project and becomes a founding chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation. She helps legitimize Open Source Internet application clients. -
Craig Newmark Founds Craigslist
Craig Newmark founds Craigslist, which is to become one of the most widely used websites on the Internet. He changes the way people used classifieds, transforming it into a largely Internet-based industry. -
Nii Quaynor Brings Internet to Africa
Professor Nii Quaynor, known as Africa’s ‘Father of the Internet,’ convenes the first training workshop for the African Network Operators’ Group. His efforts have a profound impact on the continent’s Internet growth. -
Aaron Swartz Co-Creates RSS
Aaron Swartz co-creates RSS, a program that collects news from various web pages and puts them in one place for readers, with the goal of making information freely available to everyone. -
Aaron Swartz Helps Build Creative Commons
Under the leadership of Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, Aaron Swartz helped build the open architecture for Creative Commons, which works to minimize the barriers to sharing and reusing research and educational materials. -
Jimmy Wales Launches Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales launches Wikipedia. There are half a million Internet users. -
Pun Connects Nepal
Mahabir Pun, with the help of volunteers from the US and Europe, connects the first village in Nepal to the Internet using long range wireless links built from homemade antennas. This is the beginning of the Nepal Wireless Network, which has since connected 175 villages to the Internet. -
Muthoni Founds OPENWORLD LTD
Dorcas Muthoni founds OPENWORLD LTD, a software company which has been involved in the delivery of some of the most widely used Web and cloud applications in Africa. -
Nancy Hafkin Pens "Cinderella or Cyberella?"
Dr. Nancy Hafkin authors Cinderella or Cyberella?: Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society, a collection of essays that examines how information and communications technologies empower women. -
China Dominates Internet Usage
By 2010, there are over 450 million Chinese Internet users. -
Royal Wedding Is Biggest Internet Event; UCLA Opens Internet History Center
Live streaming of Will and Kate’s wedding is the biggest event ever watched on the Internet, and UCLA, where the first ARPAnet node was built, opens its Internet History Center. -
Internet Society Founds Internet Hall of Fame
The Internet Society founds the Internet Hall of Fame and the first 33 members are inducted in a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland.