Internet Timeline

By Oladejodominion

  • Early Foundations

    Early Foundations
    J.C.R. Licklider of MIT popularizes the concept of an "Inter-network" of computers, which becomes the basis for future networking ideas.

  • First Use of Packet Switching

    First Use of Packet Switching
    Paul Baran and Donald Davies independently develop the concept of packet switching, which breaks data into smaller packets for transmission across a network.

  • ARPANET is born

    ARPANET is born
    The U.S. Department of Defense launches ARPANET, the first operational packet-switching network and the precursor to the modern internet. The first message ever sent was “LO,” which was supposed to be “LOGIN” but the system crashed after two letters.

  • First Email Sent

    First Email Sent
    Ray Tomlinson sends the first email between two computers on ARPANET. He also introduces the use of the "@" symbol to separate the user’s name from the machine's name.

  • The TCP/IP Protocols are Developed

    The TCP/IP Protocols are Developed
    Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn develop the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), foundational technologies for the modern internet.

  • First Public Demonstration of the Internet

    First Public Demonstration of the Internet
    The first demonstration of TCP/IP networking between two computers on different networks occurs.

  • The Domain Name System (DNS) is Introduced

    The Domain Name System (DNS) is Introduced
    The Domain Name System (DNS) is introduced to help map human-readable domain names to IP addresses, simplifying navigation.

  • The First Commercial Domain Name is Registered

    The First Commercial Domain Name is Registered
    The domain name "symbolics.com" is registered by Symbolics Inc., becoming the first commercial .com domain.

  • The World Wide Web is Proposed

    The World Wide Web is Proposed
    Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist at CERN, proposes the World Wide Web (WWW), a system to link documents via hyperlinks over the internet.

  • The World Wide Web is Launched

    The World Wide Web is Launched
    The World Wide Web is publicly launched, with the first website being info.cern.ch. It introduces the first web browser, called WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus).

  • First Popular Web Browser: Mosaic

    First Popular Web Browser: Mosaic
    The Mosaic web browser is released by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), bringing a graphical user interface to the internet and making the web accessible to a wider audience beyond scientists and engineers.

  • Netscape Navigator is Released

    Netscape Navigator is Released
    Netscape Navigator becomes one of the first widely used web browsers.

  • The Internet Becomes Commercialized

    The commercialization of the internet accelerates with the launch of Amazon.com, eBay, and the founding of major ISP providers like AOL and EarthLink.

  • 1998 - Google is Founded

    1998 - Google is Founded
    Larry Page and Sergey Brin found Google, revolutionizing the way people search the web.

  • Wikipedia is Launched

    Wikipedia is Launched
    The free online encyclopedia Wikipedia is founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, revolutionizing user-generated content.

  • Facebook is launched

    Facebook is launched
    Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard roommates launch Facebook, originally for university students, which soon becomes a global social media phenomenon.

  • Youtube is founded

    Youtube is founded
    YouTube is founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, changing the way people share and consume video content.

  • First Youtube Video

    First Youtube Video
    The first video ever uploaded to YouTube was "Me at the zoo", uploaded by Jawed Karim, a co-founder of YouTube

  • iPhone is released

    iPhone is released
    Apple releases the iPhone, which becomes a key device in making the internet mobile and accessible anywhere.

  • First Instagram Post

    First Instagram Post
    The first Instagram post was a picture of a stray dog taken in Mexico by Kevin Systrom, one of the app's co-founders, and was captioned "test"; it was uploaded a few months before the official launch of Instagram

  • Instagram is founded

    Instagram is founded
    Instagram is launched, popularizing photo-sharing and social networking on mobile devices.

  • The Internet of Things (IoT) Gains Traction

    The concept of interconnected devices, from smart home products to wearables, becomes more mainstream.

  • The rise of streaming services

    The rise of streaming services
    Streaming services like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon Prime become dominant ways of consuming entertainment content.

  • COVID-19 Accelerates Internet Use

    The global pandemic forces many activities to shift online, from work to education and entertainment, further solidifying the internet as an essential infrastructure.

  • Web 3.0 and the Blockchain Revolution

    The rise of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and decentralized applications (dApps) mark the beginning of Web 3.0, promising a new phase of the internet centered around decentralization.

  • The Rise of AI integration

    AI technologies, including ChatGPT, are increasingly integrated into the internet, offering advanced tools for communication, automation, and creativity.