The Invention of the Internet
As an idea, the internet is so vast and formless that it is difficult
for one to imagine it being invented. Being so invisible to the naked eye and not malleable to human touch, it seems complex as something which is everywhere
yet invisible must require technical sophistication to understand. But it doesn’t,
in fact the internet is fundamentally simple which is why it is so successful.
Since the dawn of time, people have wanted to access a
storehouse of knowledge where wisdom and facts from throughout the ages have
been recorded. In earlier times, such a role might have been carried out by a
wise old man who had learnt from their predecessors, passing on knowledge
through word of mouth. As times progressed, and books became common, the next
such storehouses were libraries. But still, many humans wanted to create a
store of ideas and experiences that could be accessed by anyone anywhere at any
time. And it is through this timeless pursuit that we finally arrived at… the
Internet.
The Internet was invented through the efforts of experts from
all over the world such as the French network Cyclades, Xerox, the University of
Hawaii and England’s National Physical Laboratory. But the most important
contributor to the development of the Internet was the US Defense Department’s richly
funded research arm – Advanced Research Projects Agency or ARPA and its many
contractors. (It later changed its name to the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA).)
The first working prototype of the internet was the ARPANET,
created in the late 1960s by ARPA. It allowed several computers to operate on a
single network which was created in order to bring computers to the front
lines. The main problem faced by this prototype was that it wasn’t mobile – the
computers used were gigantic by today’s standards and they only communicated
through fixed mainframes.
The next problem that needed to be solved was the problem of
getting two networks to interact with each other that is truly making the
intranet into the internet. Thus, what was needed next was the formation of a common
language in which data could be transmitted.
In the 1970s, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf together developed
the protocol known as Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol or
TCP/IP. This communications model was a new innovation in fast data transfer
across networks. ARPANET adopted this model in 1983, and the formation of the
what is now the modern ‘internet’ started in earnest.
To bring this to the public, however, there were still problems
to be faced.
Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist, created ENQUIRE, a program to
help scientists share information while he was at Oxford. Despite the obvious
benefits of the program, he could not find anyone interested in developing the
technology any further.
But he did not give up. In 1989, he created three further
protocols, HTML, URI and HTTP. These names were not marketable to the public,
so he and his partner Robert Cailliau came up with the name The World Wide Web.
Berners-Lee never patented his idea, but even today he
serves as the Director of the W3C Consortium that governs the Web. Even as
technology changes, he is still passionate about creating new standards for the
Internet.
And that was how today’s most recognizable form of internet
was formed.
