The foundations of the internet were formed in the 7th century BCE, in Nineveh, what is now Iraq. When you start talking about where and when the internet was invented we need to define what the internet really is. Is it the technology that links computers together? What is the original purpose of the internet before eCommerce came into play? The answers to those questions re-define when the foundations for the internet was actually invented.

The internet as we are taught to believe was invented by the US government as a way to share data, documents, and other communicated information through a network of computers. The cold war had a lot to do with the motivation as a way to share documents and transmit data securely and fast.

Foundations for the Internet

What I am leading up to is that the internet started out as a library. Forget the technology and think about the purpose. The basis for the internet was nothing more than a library for the government. This is the seed that grew the internet into what it is today. Yes, eventually the internet bore a lot more fruit than a library with e-commerce, communication, entertainment, and probably a few more categories I am not thinking of.

Grandfather of the Internet

Let’s go back to who invented the internet. Was it the man with technology? No, we already clarified that technology was not the sole purpose of the internet. It was not really about just connecting a bunch of computers together. What good would they do unless there was a purpose? The purpose is the real foundation of the internet and why it was invented, that being storing and sharing information.

That means the foundations of the internet go all the way back to the 7th century BCE Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, what is now Iraq. Per Britannica, he was the one who formed the first library which contained approximately 30,000 cuneiform tablets assembled by topic. Is this not the reason the internet was formed? To store and share documents and data by topic. As always historians write up history as they see fit. They often forget about the guy that climbed that first volcano and stole fire from the gods. History only reflects upon the present in so many cases, acknowledging people who create things based on prior inventions. The internet would not exist if it weren’t for the noble librarians who built the foundations of storing information for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

The Modern Internet Beginnings

Today we use the internet primarily for work and entertainment. Initially, the internet was to be a tool to share and communicate data securely during the cold war. Who Invented the Internet? What were the beginnings of the Internet? What made it more accessible to the public? We present the history of the internet at a glance. 

Currently, we cannot imagine our life without a permanent connection, and even without constant access to Wi-Fi. Those born before the political transformation, however, remember the times when using the Internet was not so easy. I remember persistent, often unsuccessful attempts to connect to the home network with tenderness (and a certain amount of irritation). Or… its complete absence. When was the internet we know today born? It turns out much earlier than we think. 

The Origins of the Modern Internet

The history of the Internet began with … ARPANET, a network created by the ARPA organization (Advanced Research Project Agency). The agency was established in 1958 on the initiative of the US President Dwight Eisenhower and was aimed at conducting scientific projects for military purposes directed mainly against the Soviet Union.

Joseph Licklider, who headed the IPTO (Information Process Techniques Office) unit, was active in the organization from 1962. The main task of the IPTO was to connect the computers of several US units without a clear central center. The idea was that in the event of damage to some part of it (or if it was captured by the enemy), the network would still be able to function.

It is worth noting that Licklider published a work in 1959 entitled Man-Computer Symbiosis, which is believed to be central to the development of the idea of ​​the web. In 1963, as a member of ARPA, he saw the need (and possibility) of creating a network with a much greater range than just between a few points in the USA. He described the idea in notes to his colleagues at ARPA.

How Was the Internet Created

Paul Baran, a researcher of Polish origin – born in Grodno, which was then within the borders of the country – worked in the 1950s and 1960s in the American think-tank RAND (Research and Development). His task was to invent a way of transmitting data between a network of computers.

So in 1961, Baran invented a method called packet switching. The researcher himself in the published memoranda on this subject called it the “hot potato” principle. The principle can be described as follows: a network node, after receiving a data packet, sent it to the address in the header. If the address was unavailable (e.g. the network was overloaded or the address was not on a direct contact line), then the data was forwarded to the next destination until it was successful.

The question of who invented the modern Internet can therefore be, at least partially, answered with the name of a Polish scientist. The principle of packet switching has been used so far and allows for the automation of data transmission.

Names to remember:

Joseph Licklider – an American scientist who created the ARPANET decentralized network system, is considered to be the beginning of the current Internet.

Paul Baran – a researcher of Polish origin; invented the principle of packet switching, which is still used today in the functioning of the network.

The History of the Internet

The first ARPANET nodes were created in 1969 and this date is considered the beginning of the Internet. The nodes were located in 4 American units – at the University of California in Los Angeles, later also in two other cities in California, and one in Salt Lake City. At that time, the first data was also sent from one node to another. In the following year, the network was enlarged by more nodes.

In 1970, a network was also established in Great Britain, and a year later another in the United States – Merit Network. At that time, the first electronic mail was also created and the first e-mail was sent. Its author was Raymond Tomlinson, and the addressee … himself. Unfortunately, no one remembers the content of the email anymore, it was probably a sequence of random letters.

In 1973, ARPANET becomes an international network (it reaches, among others, Norway), but it is not developing as fast as we are seeing it now. In almost a decade, only 100 network nodes were created.

An important event was the emergence of Usenet, a system of newsgroups. It is now a rather disused system, but it surely laid the foundations for modern social networks. He also had a big impact on the Internet – the network became more “human”, it began to meet the needs of users.

World Wide Web

In June 1991, Tim Berners-Lee presented an innovative project – databases and information system based on text documents with active links (hyperlinks). Web pages – because we are talking about them – have become, next to e-mail and Usenet, the most important service on the web. Their debut dates back to August 1991.

The first (primitive) internet search engine for websites was W3Catalog, which was established in 1993. The functionality of a real search engine – not just an aggregate of search results from other websites – was Lycos, the first real web browser. Currently, the most popular search engine, i.e. Google, was launched in 1998.

Optical fiber and dizzying internet speeds

Today it is difficult to imagine life without Internet access – the more so because we can use very high speeds. For example, in the Orange offer, you can experience data download speeds of up to … up to 1Gb / s! This is ensured by the fiber-optic technology developed for years, in which the information carrier is a light wave.

It is also worth remembering that nowadays not only our computers are connected to the Internet, but also smartphones, TV sets, home cameras, and even refrigerators and washing machines. In the following years, reliable, fast, and stable Internet will therefore play an increasingly important role in our lives