History of the Internet

  • ARPNET

    ARPNET
    ARPNET was the first real network to run on the packet switching network. Computers at Stanford and UCLA connected for the first time. In effect, they were the first hosts on what would one day become the Internet.
  • Period: to

    Evolution of the Internet

  • Emal

    Emal
    Email was first developed in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, who also made the decision to use the "@" symbol to separate the user name from the computer name.
  • The first trans-Atlantic connection and the popularity of emailing

    The first trans-Atlantic connection and the popularity of emailing
    Arpanet made its first trans-Atlantic connection in 1973, with the University College of London. During the same year, email accounted for 75% of all Arpanet network activity.
  • PC Modem

    PC Modem
    1977 was a big year for the development of the Internet as we know it today. It’s the year the first PC modem, developed by Dennis Hayes and Dale Heatherington, was introduced and initially sold to computer hobbyists.
  • The first emoticon

    The first emoticon
    While many people credit Kevin MacKenzie with the invention of the emoticon in 1979, it was Scott Fahlman in 1982 who proposed using :-) after a joke, rather than the original -) proposed by MacKenzie. The modern emoticon was born.
  • The Internet grows

    The Internet grows
    By 1987, there were nearly 30,000 hosts on the Internet. The original Arpanet protocol had been limited to 1,000 hosts, but the adoption of the TCP/IP standard made larger numbers of hosts possible.
  • First web page created

    First web page created
    1991 brought some major innovations to the world of the Internet. The first web page was created and, much like the first email explained what email was, its purpose was to explain what the World Wide Web was.
  • Commercialization of the internet

    Commercialization of the internet
    1995 is often considered the first year the web became commercialized. While there were commercial enterprises online prior to ’95, there were a few key developments that happened that year. First, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption was developed by Netscape, making it safer to conduct financial transactions (like credit card payments) online. In addition, two major online businesses got their start the same year. The first sale on "Echo Bay" was made that year. Echo Bay later became eBay.
  • Google!

    Google!
    Google was created!
  • Wikipedia!

    Wikipedia!
    Wikipedia is launched
  • Facebook

    Facebook
    Facebook launched in 2004, though at the time it was only open to college students and was called "The Facebook"; later on, "The" was dropped from the name, though the URL http://www.thefacebook.com still works.
  • The iPhone and the Mobile Web

    The iPhone and the Mobile Web
    The biggest innovation of 2007 was almost certainly the iPhone, which was almost wholly responsible for renewed interest in mobile web applications and design.