The Evolution of the Internet

The Evolution of the Internet

The Internet has truly revolutionized the world. From its extremely humble beginnings to its rapid growth, nothing in perhaps the history of the world has brought so much information to the masses and has helped individuals communicate with others. While the Internet might seem simplistic in theory, it took quite a few innovations to technologically get it where it is today.

In a world where information was usually broadcasted from one central location to the masses, the Internet made it possible for each individual to communicate with others over vast geographic distances without relying on technologies such as TV, radio or even a telegraph machine. The Internet has made it possible for not only communication to occur between two people, but millions at the same time.

While most technologies before the Internet were one way broadcasts, the Internet allowed information not only to be communicated, but to be shared and gave the ability for others to collaborate. Looking back, it is easy to see just how much of an impact the Internet has had on our society economically, socially, educationally and militarily, however, less than 50 years ago the idea of a internet didn't even exist. Here is the history of the internet.

The beginning of the Internet was founded in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite.

The first ideas about a internet type system were written by J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962. J.C. R. Licklider wrote several memos on what he termed a "Galactic Network". The concept behind the Galactic Network was the ability to access information in the form of electronic data or programs from a network of computers that are all connected to one another.

Also another event that helped the beginnings of the Internet was a commissioned study by the USAF on how the military (specifically the Air Force) could keep control and maintain command of its nuclear missiles, airplanes and bombers after a nuclear attack. The USAF wanted a communications network that was decentralized, so that no matter the extent of damage after a nuclear attack, the military would still be able to control nuclear weapons for a counter attack. This commissioned study was overseen by Paul Baran, a member of the Rand Corporation.

The Internet was originally called the Arpanet. It was originally a project contract awarded to the company BBN. The first computer selected as the base for Arpanet was a Honeywell minicomputer. While the contract was awarded in 1968, the physical construction of the first network was completed in 1969. The first network included four computer nodes at the following universities; the University of California at Santa Barbara, University of California at Los Angeles, SRI at Stanford and the University of Utah. It should be noted that, initially the proposed line speed was only 2.4 kbps; however the network was upgraded via a 50 kbps.

In the1960′s several organizations were working on technologies that proved valuable to creating the internet. During the 1970′s the Internet grew and several key technologies were developed, including an application that is still today considered the internet's killer app. In the very early 1970′s lots of experimenting took place and 19 other computers were hooked into the Arpanet. Ray Tomlinson created email including the ability to send and read messages. However, others made email even more functional by adding the ability to selectively read email messages, file emails, forward emails and respond to email messages. Email had an enormous influence on those that used Arpanet adding a social dimension to the network. During the mid 1970′s a few technologies were developed to expand the reach of Arpanet. The first was a packet satellite project that was able to send data packets over radio and satellite waves. Now Arpanet had become international and reach half way around the world. The first step was to create a link that was transatlantic. It was called Satnet. Sanet was first linked to Norway and then to the rest of Europe. Another technology that helped expand the Arpanet to more users in a specific location was the development of the Ethernet. Ethernet is a coaxial cable that is still used today in many local area networks. Ethernet is highly effective in moving data from one computer to another at high speeds. In 1983, two major events made using the Internet easier and more uniform than ever, they were the creation of D N S(Domain Name System) and the replacement of NCP protocol by TCP/IP. On January 1, 1983, all computers on Arpanet or CSNET were required to use this protocol. TCP/IP improved communications throughout the network and allowed all computers to easily communicate with