History of Internet

Wood texture background light oak. History of Internet.

What is Internet. The internet is a global information network that connects millions of computers It is growing exponentially and provides a unique information resource that is global, diverse and current..

Beginnings. Internet started in 1960s as a way for govt. researchers to share information. Another catalyst in formation of the internet was heating up of cold war..

Formation of ARPANET. The Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite triggered the U.S. defense department to consider ways information could still be disseminated even after a nuclear attack. This eventually led to the formation of ARPANET. That network ultimately evolved into what today we know as internet. ARPANET was a great success but it was accessible to only few academic and research organizations who had contact with the defense department. In response to this other networks were created to provide information sharing..

Origin of Packet Switching. The packet switching concept was first invented by Paul Baran in 1960’s and then independently few years later by Donald Davies. Leonard Kleinrock conducted early research in the related field of digital message switching and helped build the ARPANET, the world’s first packet switching network..

Packet switching transmits data across digital networks by breaking it down into blocks or packets for more efficient transfers using various network devices.

What is common network protocol? A common network protocol is an established set of rules that determine how data is transmitted between different devices with the same network.

Origin of TCP/IP. January 1, 1983 is considered as official birthday of internet. Prior to this various computers did not have a standard way to communicate with each other. A new communication network was established called Transfer control protocol/ Inter network protocol. This allowed different kinds of computers on different networks to talk to each other. All networks could now be connected by a universal language..

Quasi Privatization of Internet. By 1980s the network was used widely by researchers and developers. The transition towards a privatized internet took ten more years, and it was largely handled by National Science Foundation[NSF]. By 1988 NSF initiated the privatization and commercialization by promoting private and long - haul networks. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990, whilst 1995 internet effectively privatized..

Development of WWW. Sphere of mesh and nodes. Tim Berners- Lee, a British scientist, invented the world wide web in 1989 while working at CERN. The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automated information sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world. The basic idea of WWW was to merge the evolving technologies of computers, data networks and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system. By the end of 1990 Tim had first server and browser up and running at CERN. Berners - Lee’s original web browser running on next computers showed his vision and had many features of the current web browsers. In August 1991 he released his WWW software across the globe which had line-mode browser, Web server software and library for developers..