Who Invented the Internet?

The Internet proved to be a milestone in the field of information technology. The invention of the internet not only led to sophistication of communication but also gave birth to an era of digitalization. It’s a collection of computer networks connecting individuals, government bodies, private concerns, universities and etc. globally; enabling an exchange of information in the form of data packets.

The internet is evolving since its inception to provide an improved and advanced interactive interface for its worldwide users. Initially, the users were connected to the global pool of information resources through optical fibers which carried information among the networked computers but slowly such system was replaced by wireless networks which eventually overcame the geographical limitations.

History of the Internet :

This crucial invention involved the contribution of many inventors unlike other technological inventions like the telephone or television. The initial research about the internet started from the United States of America which was about 50 years ago, in a form of government weapon during the cold war time between the United States of America and the U.S.S.R. During that time internet was known as “network of networks”. Thus, by gradual improvement and development in information technology, it is today, when there are about approximately 4.5 billion users of the internet. The Internet is much capable to be utilized as a broadcasting medium to share “n” numbers of information over a common platform for alliance and communication between machines and humans which is usually beyond the geographical boundaries.

First One of the Internet:

In 1967, ARPANET adopted a cost-effective communication system with computers known as packet switching which was conceptualized by Paul Baran in the year 1960. The experiments related to the information transfer between two computer systems are known as “packet switching” which is still followed in the same way. This concept exercises breakdown of large messages into smaller packets and allowing them to transmit over the circuit to the desired destination and finally the same is constructed back to form the original message as a whole.

In 1969, the first long-distance connectivity between computers was done by two research teams known as UCLA and Stanford. Although, the first experiment which took place happened to fail miserably, however, under the supervision of Leonard Kleinrock, the two-node network was successfully being engineered. In the 1960s, the initial idea of the internet was proposed by Paul Otlet from Belgium and after that, other scientists made their crucial contribution to other aspects of Internet like J.C.R. Licklider who came up with the idea of global networking and the concept of network email was conceptualized by Ray Tomlinson in 1972 for ARPANET.

However, the credit for inventing communication protocol is given to Bob Kahn and Vinton Cerf which has enabled connecting a remote computer with the outside world.

Evolution of the Internet:

After a series of long experiments taking place, the final success was seen when DARPA introduced its program called inter-netting which helped in the connectivity of variable heterogeneous networks. The program was keen on focusing on the concept of networking among open architectures. The handshaking and the communication by and between the devices were connected using “Gateways”.

In the 1980s NSFNET emerged as a nationwide computer network that took care of the civilian node. The standardization of the file-sharing protocol (FTP) and internet protocols (TCP/IP) were done in 1973 and 1982 respectively. Thus, in 1990 ARPANET was officially withdrawn and NSF created a network that was liberated from government funding. Moreover, NSF removes all limitations of viable use of its network, and the Internet was formally privatized. The human indulgence has been a key element in the whole process of the internet coming to life. Social platforms, mails (e-mails), newsletters, and various audiovisual transmission keeps the human race connected from various corners of the world. With the implementation of the internet infrastructure, time-sharing systems allowed the sharing of computer resources in rapid succession with multiple users. The information cycled through the queue of users so swiftly that the computer appeared to be dedicated to every user. 

The evolution of the internet has tremendously changed the ways of accessing and usage of networks. The ongoing phase has witnessed some significant advancement in the form of mobile connectivity, rapid expansion of social media and pervasive surveillance. In today’s world, the Internet has become compulsory for day-to-day activities such as bills payment, online shopping, and surfing, tutoring, working, communicating with our peers, etc. A crucial mode to execute, explore things, delivering fact by interacting with the whole world.