Invention 2: The birth of the Internet
The challenge of getting a message quickly from point a to point B. has motivated the creation of foot messengers, the Pony Express, the U.S. Postal Service, Morse Code, the telegraph and telephone -- and the Internet. The Internet as an idea was first born in 1958 when researchers at the Bell Labs invented a modem that could convert digital signals to electrical analog signals and back, enabling computers to communicate with one another ("History of the Internet," Computing Science Chronology, 2005).
The beginnings of the revolution in communication technology between computers would later enable ordinary individuals to communicate with people they had never met far away, transform modern commerce by enabling even small vendors to sell goods internationally over the Internet, and allow people to telecommute or remain connected to work and friends 24-7. Information through the Internet can be published by anyone and accessed with a click. Information access no longer requires tedious research in officially published library volumes authored by experts. The Internet makes life faster and more democratic.
However, some of the core technology behind the modern Internet evolved through quite formal channels. For example, packet-switching theory arose as a perceived necessity during Cold War military fighting if more conventional means of communication broke down...
In 1974, the Ethernet was born, "which allowed coaxial cable to move data extremely fast. This was a crucial component to the development of LANs" ("History of the Internet," Computing Science Chronology, 2005). In 1992, the World-Wide Web was first released by the particle physics laboratory CERN and use of the Internet began to expand exponentially in the 1990s after InterNIC was created by NSF to provide specific Internet services: directory and database services (by at&T), registration services (by Network Solutions Inc.), and information services (by General Atomics/CERFnet) ("History of the Internet," Computing Science Chronology, 2005).
Works Cited
History of the Internet." Computing Science Chronology. Last Updated on 19 March 2001 and 2005. 13 January 2009. http://www.thocp.net/reference/internet/internet1.htm
Stahl, Ted. "Chronology of the History of Video Games." Computing Science Chronology.
15 Feb 2005. Last Updated on 3 November, 2006. 13 January 2009. http://www.thocp.net/software/games/games.htm
