History of the Internet: in what year did it appear and why was it created

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

A computer without the Internet today seems to be a useless thing. Of course, this is the most convenient means for communication, searching for any information and even making money. But this was not always the case - the network was originally invented for a completely different purpose.

How did it all start?

So, why was the Internet created, in what year did it appear and who were its first users? The "parents" of the world wide web are, of course, the United States of America, whose Ministry of Defense back in 1957 visited the idea of the need to have in service (in the event of a war) a reliable system for exchanging operational information. The mission of creating the first computer network was placed on the shoulders of several leading American scientific institutions.

Thanks to generous investment from the Department of Defense, already in 1969 a project called ARPANET was launched, which united its founders: the University of California, the Stanford Research Center, the Universities of Utahand California. Soon, this system, due to its efficiency and versatility, began to develop actively and became especially popular among scientists of that time.

The turning point in the network's history

In what year the Internet was invented, we already know. But what date is considered his birthday? It's October 29, 1969. Today, this day is considered the beginning of its entire history. Let's remember the events of this significant day, or rather night. It all started at 21:00, when the first full-fledged communication session was held between California and Stanford. The transfer of information was carried out by an employee of the University of California, Charlie Kline, and Bill Duvall received it at Stanford, confirming the receipt of each character by telephone. But, as they say, the first pancake is always lumpy, so after the introduction of three characters (LOG) into the system, a failure occurred. The bright heads of American science established communication for an hour and a half, and work resumed at 22:30: Bill Duvall confirmed receipt of the full LOGON command.

So if you are asked what year the Internet was created, albeit the most primitive, answer with confidence: October 29, 1969.

E-mail pushes the masses

Well, then it went like clockwork. Already after three years, on October 2, 1971, the means of communication so popular today was invented - e-mail. The code for the first messaging program created on the ARPANETconsisted of 200 lines. This resource isthe work of Ray Tomlinson, a senior engineer at BBN Technologies, who invented the symbol that still serves as a separator between a username and a domain address to this day. We proudly call this symbol “dog” today.

The introduction of e-mail to the masses was a decisive event in the history of the development of the Internet. In what year the first e-mail address appeared is no longer important. The main thing is that thanks to him, the then still imperfect network became global, attracting millions of interested users.

World debut

1973 is considered the beginning of the international popularity of cyberspace, because through the transatlantic telephone cable, Great Britain and Norway were connected to the American information system. And 10 years later, ARPANET received a new name - the Internet. In what year did the term that we proudly call the World Wide Web appear today? In 1983.

At this time, the Internet has become not only a means of sending e-mail, but also a platform for posting news and announcements. In 1984, the domain name system was invented, which was supposed to provide a convenient robot with Internet addresses. In the same year, another large inter-university network NSFNET was created, which competed with ARPANET.

The birth of modern communications

Online communication today would be impossible if the IRC protocol had not been developed, which, translated into ordinary speech, means nothing more than "chat". The Internet without it would not be the Internet. ATin what year did the real-time communication service appear? In 1988.

1989 marked the birth of the true World Wide Web. This idea came to Tim Barnes-Lee, who proposed linking the information networks available at that time into one single network, the so-called World Wide Web. This was supposed to be done through hyperlinks. At the same time, the HTTP protocol was born, the HTML language was developed.

ARPANET ceased to exist relatively recently - in 1990, and all because of NSFNET, which surpassed it in many ways. Literally a year after that, the new NCSA Mosaic browser was released, as a result of which the World Wide Web became a public communication tool. As of 1997, approximately 10 million computers were accessing the Internet, and more than a million domains were registered in the system.

Now you know in what year the Internet was created, who did it and why. Be that as it may, this is the greatest achievement of science and technology, which has been an integral part of the modern world for many years.