Maturing of the Net

History of Computers and Computing, Internet, Maturing of the Net

Maturing of the Net

In this section will be presented some people and events, who established the foundations of the modern Internet tools and technologies.

First Chat Program, Murray Turoff, 1971

Turoff seems to have built the first chat program and system that would work across multiple computers. The Emergency Management Information Systems And Reference Index (EMISARI) is the name of the system that housed that program.

The idea was to allow sharing of information and polling other professionals to compile thoughts and surveys about ways to improve emergency management.

The first chat was nicknamed “The Partyline”. Basically, it aimed to replace or improve a typical group call, with a few dozen participants, in which communication was difficult because people would have trouble trying to add to the conversation without talking over one another.

The First E-mail Message, Ray Tomlinson, 1971

Yes, the very first email, and something that we are all too familiar with today. While working on ARPANET, which was a predecessor of the internet, Ray Tomlinson was able to create The First E-mail Message in 1971 by combining different functionalities of several systems he could piggyback the messaging program for a intra-computer feature to a file sharing feature of another. The combined result produced the first email.

Project Gutenberg, First Digital Library, Michael Hart, 1971

Michael Hart’s goal was to basically create a free library of written works that would enable anyone to access them. This was in a grand attempt to ultimately collect all of mankind’s shared written knowledge and have it available for all. He call it Project Gutenberg—first digital library.

Initially, he and whoever he could get to help him, had to type the text of all the works. As technology developed, they were able to add to the list much quicker. As of 2009, they have added around 30,000 written works to the library.

First Computer Virus, Bob Thomas, 1971

The virus was actually created as a security measure to test to see if a program could self-replicate. The first computer virus was called “Creeper” after a Scooby-Doo villain! This particular virus didn’t actually do and real damage by erasing or corrupting files. It just displayed a message on infected computers.

TCP/IP, Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, 1972

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, also known as TCP/IP Protocol Suite, allows different computers to talk to each other. This communication can happen over great distances because of how the information is broken down into packets.

Known as the “fathers of the internet”, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn created the concept with working at DARPA in the 1970s.

World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, 1989

While he initially called his proposed system “Mesh”, Tim Berners-Lee is the person responsible for conceiving the World Wide Web, in 1989. It was based on the concept of using hypertext to update, transmit, and store information for researchers to share and multiply their findings quickly.

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