Remembering the Birth of the Internet

40 years ago, it was not at all clear that there would be an Internet. Today, we take it for granted. On May 10th we will be launching the website to collect the stories of how the Internet came to be. What it meant to people of many different backgrounds. We are bringing together young people to collect and tell stories – and we want to CAPTURE the stories of the generation that created this protocol.

 
 
 
 

 

BIRTH OF THE INTERNET

 

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE INTERNET AND THE DESIGN OF

THE CORE NETWORKING PROTOCOL TCP (WHICH LATER BECAME TCP/IP)

WERE CONCEIVED BY VINTON G. CERF AND ROBERT E. KAHN DURING 1973

WHILE CERF WAS AT STANFORD'S DIGITAL SYSTEMS LABORATORY AND

KAHN WAS AT ARPA (LATER DARPA). IN THE SUMMER OF 1976, CERF LEFT STANFORD

TO MANAGE THE PROGRAM WITH KAHN AT ARPA.

 

THEIR WORK BECAME KNOWN IN SEPTEMBER 1973 AT A NETWORKING CONFERENCE IN ENGLAND.

CERF AND KAHN'S SEMINAL PAPER WAS PUBLISHED IN MAY 1974.

 

CERF, YOGEN K. DALAL, AND CARL SUNSHINE

WROTE THE FIRST FULL TCP SPECIFICATION IN DECEMBER 1974.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF DARPA, EARLY IMPLEMENTATIONS OF TCP (AND IP LATER)

WERE TESTED BY BOLT BERANEK AND NEWMAN (BBN),

STANFORD, AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON DURING 1975.

 

BBN BUILT THE FIRST INTERNET GATEWAY, NOW KNOWN AS A ROUTER, TO LINK NETWORKS TOGETHER.

IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS, RESEARCHERS AT MIT AND USC-ISI, AMONG MANY OTHERS,

PLAYED KEY ROLES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SET OF INTERNET PROTOCOLS.

 

KEY STANFORD RESEARCH ASSOCIATES AND FOREIGN VISITORS

 

VINTON CERF

DAG BELSNES    JAMES MATHIS

RONALD CRANE         BOB METCALFE

YOGEN DALAL          DARRYL RUBIN

JUDITH ESTRIN        JOHN SHOCH

RICHARD KARP        CARL SUNSHINE

GERARD LE LANN           KUNINOBU TANNO

 

DARPA

ROBERT KAHN

 

COLLABORATING GROUPS

BOLT BERANEK AND NEWMAN

WILLIAM PLUMMER • GINNY STRAZISAR • RAY TOMLINSON

 

MIT

NOEL CHIAPPA • DAVID CLARK • STEPHEN KENT • DAVID P. REED

 

NDRE

YNGVAR LUNDH • PAAL SPILLING

 

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

FRANK DEIGNAN • MARTINE GALLAND • PETER HIGGINSON

ANDREW HINCHLEY • PETER KIRSTEIN • ADRIAN STOKES

 

USC-ISI

ROBERT BRADEN • DANNY COHEN • DANIEL LYNCH • JON POSTEL

 

ULTIMATELY, THOUSANDS IF NOT TENS TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS

HAVE CONTRIBUTED THEIR EXPERTISE TO THE EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET.

 

DEDICATED JULY 28, 2005


  
 
 

"Little did Bob Kahn and I know In the early 1970s, that the Internet would explode by a factor of a million after its ignition on January 1, 1983."

 – Vint Cerf

 
  
 
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