Internet History

The collection of people, hardware, and software ­- the multiaccess computer together with its local community of users -- will become a node in a geographically distributed computer network. Let us assume for a moment that such a network has been formed. - J.C.R. Licklider, Robert Taylor, The Computer as a Communication Device, 1968.

The Internet is a large, complex information space that reflects much of the variety of our physical world. The key people, organizations, and events that shaped the development of this remarkable virtual universe are described in the following sections:

• Internet History
  
  
  • Internet History -- One-Page Summary
  • Vannevar Bush and Memex
  • Norbert Wiener Invents Cybernetics
  • Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE)
  • Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conference
  • DARPA/ARPA -- Defense / Advanced Research Project Agency
  • J.C.R. Licklider And The Universal Network
  • Marshall McLuhan Foresees The Global Village
  • Paul Baran Invents Packet Switching
  • UK National Physical Laboratories (NPL) & Donald Davies
  • IPTO -- Information Processing Techniques Office
  • Leonard Kleinrock Helps Build The ARPANET
  • Lawrence Roberts Manages The ARPANET Program
  • IMP -- Interface Message Processor
  • ARPANET -- The First Internet
  • NCP -- Network Control Program
  • Robert Kahn -- TCP/IP Co-Designer
  • Vinton Cerf -- TCP/IP Co-Designer
  • TCP/IP Internet Protocol
  • CSNET -- Computer Science Network
  • NSFNET -- National Science Foundation Network
  • EUnet -- European Network
    
• World Wide Web History

• Ted Nelson Discovers Hypertext
• Douglas Engelbart Develops the Mouse, GUI, and First Hypertext System
• Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, and the World Wide Web
• Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) Establishes First N.A. Web Site
• Mosaic -- The First Global Web Browser
• Netscape -- The First Commecial Web Browser
• Online Service Rush To The Web
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• Web Browser History
• History Of Hypertext Systems

• Usenet Newsgroups History

• Net-news
• Early Hierarchies
• Network News Transfer Protocol
• Modern Hierarchies
• The Alt Hierarchy
• BITNET
• Bulletin Board Systems & Fido Net
• Internet News
• Commercialism
• Old Maps

• Email History

• Timesharing computers
• SNDMSG & READMAIL
• RD
• NRD
• WRD / BANANARD
• MSG
• MS / MH
• RFC 773
• MMDF
• Sendmail
• Commercial Email
• Online Services

• IRC History

• Early Programs
• EMISARI
• PLANET
• PLATO
• EIES
• CompuServe SB
• Talkers
• IRC

• MUD History

• Summary MUD History
• Old MUD Clients
• Old MUD Servers

• Mailing List History

• Listserv
• Majordomo
• Listproc.