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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.
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Leonard Kleinrock Pioneers Packet-Switching
Leonard Kleinrock pioneers the packet-switching concept in his Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) doctoral thesis about queueing theory
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Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) is created
Found a way that computers can talk to each other in case of nuclear attack. -
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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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.
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Computers at Stanford and UCLA connected for the first time
The first hosts on what would one day become the internet. -
An Arpanet network was established
Network between Harvard, MIT, and BBN (the company that created the "interface message processor" computers used to connect to the network) in 1970 was created. -
Email was first developed
Developed by Ray Tomlinson, who also made the decision to use the "@" symbol to separate the user name from the computer name (which later on became the domain name). -
Jon Postel Helps Create First Internet Address Registry
While at the Information Science Institute, Jon Postel helps create the first Internet address registry, which later becomes Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). This administers IP addresses and other critical Internet functions.
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University College of London Establishes First International ARPAnet Link
The first international connection to the ARPAnet is made by University College of London (England) via NORSAR (Norway).
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The beginning of TCP/IP
A proposal was published to link Arpa-like networks together into a so-called "inter-network", which would have no central control and would work around a transmission control protocol (which eventually became TCP/IP). -
The first Personal Computer Modem is invented
The modem was invented by Dennis Hayes and Dale Heatherington, and was introduced and initially sold to computer hobbyists. -
Lawrence Landweber Creates Computer Science Network
Lawrence Landweber creates CSNET (Computer Science Network), a network for all US university and industrial computer research groups. By 1984, over 180 university, industrial, and government computer science departments are participating in CSNET.
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Spam is born
The first unsolicited commercial email message(later known as spam), was sent out to 600 California Arpanet users by Gary Thuerk. -
MUD-The earliest form of multiplayer games was debuted
The precursor to World of Warcraft and Second Life was developed in 1979, and was call MUD (short for MultiUser Dungeon). MUDs were entirely text-based virtual worlds, combining elements of role-playing games, interactive, fiction, and online chat. -
The first emoticon :-)
The first emoticon was used While many people credit Kevin MacKenzie with the invention of the emoticon in 1979, it was Scott Fahlman in 1982 who proposed using :-) after a joke, rather than the original -) proposed by MacKenzie. -
The domain name system was created
The first Domain Name Servers (DNS) was created. The domain name system was important in that it made addresses on the Internet more human-friendly compared to its numerical IP address counterparts. DNS servers allowed Internet users to type in an easy-to-remember domain name and then covered it to the IP address automatically. -
First Email in Germany
The first email arrives in Germany from the U.S. on August 3, 1984. "Willkommen CSNET," it says. Werner Zorn plays a critical role in this event and establishing the German Internet.
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First U.S. Research & Education Network Developed
Dr. Stephen Wolff leads the development of NSFNET, the first U.S. open computer network supporting research and higher education.
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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.
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World Wide Web protocols finished
The code for the World Wide Web was written by Tim Berners-Lee, based on his proposal from the year before, along with the standards from the year before, along with the standards for HTML, HTTP, AND URLs. -
First web page created 1991
Brought some major innovation to the world of the internet. The first web page was created and, much like the first email explained what email was, its purpose was to explain what the World Wide Web was.
