c






Many inventions have taken several centuries to develop into their modern forms and
modern inventions are rarely the product of a single inventor's efforts. The bits and pieces
of a computer (including the software) came together over many centuries, many people
each adding a small contribution. Each of the inventions listed below were only one small
step on the road to the ultimate goal.

Early man counted by means of matching one set of objects with

another set (stones and sheep).
Early tables, named abaci, formalized counting and introduced the
concept of positional notation.
c3000 BC The Chinese abacus was developed about 5000 years ago. It was
built out of wood and beads. The abacus was so successful that its
use spread form China to many other countries.
c800 In the ninth century, the Persian mathematician Abu Abdullah
Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi developed the concept of a
written process to be followed to achieve some goal, and published
a book on the subject that gave us it's modern nameͶalgorithm.
1623 German scientist Wilhelm Schikard invented a machine that used 11
complete and 6 incomplete sprocketed wheels that could add and,
with the aid of logarithm tables, multiply and divide.
1642 The mechanical adding machine was invented by a nineteen-year-old
French boy named Blaise Pascal way back in the year 1642.
1801 The Jacquard loom not only cut back on the amount of human labor,
but also allowed for patterns to now be stored on cards and to be
utilized over and over again to achieve the same product.
1820 Charles Babbage, British mathematician and inventor, who designed
and built mechanical computing machines - The Difference Engine,
on principles that anticipated the modern electronic computer.
1843 Ada Lovelace's set of instructions was a forerunner of modern
computer program, and historians have credited her as the first
computer programmer.
1890 Herman Hollerith devised a system of encoding data on cards
through a series of punched holes, a punch card machine. This
system proved useful in statistical work and was important in the
development of the digital computer.
1939 In December 1939, the first prototype of the Atanasoff Berry
Computer (ABC) was ready. The ABC showed some of the potentials
of a computer and it amazed the University. So in 1939, Dr.John
Vincent Atanasoff and his assistant Clifford Berry built the world's
first electronic digital computer.
1940 Alan Turing introduced the concept of a theoretical computing
device now known as a Turing machine. The concept of this
machine, which could theoretically perform any mathematical
calculation, was important in the development of the digital
computer.
1944 Howard Aiken with his colleagues at Harvard - and with some
assistance from International Business Machines - by 1944 he had
built the Mark I, the world͛s first program-controlled calculator; an
early form of a digital computer.
1946 John Mauchley, an American physicist, and J. Presper Eckert, an
American engineer, proposed an electronic digital computer, called
the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC),
completed in 1946 and is regarded as the first successful, general
digital computer.
1947 Teams of Bell Labs scientists, such as Shockley, Brattain, Bardeen,
and many others met the challenge.--and invented the information
age. They produced the greatest invention of the our time:
the transistor.
1951 Jay W, Forrester invented the first random-access magnetic core
store (memory) for an electronic digital computer. He also
supervised the building of the Whirlwind digital computer and
studied the application of computers to management problems,
developing methods for computer simulation.
1952 Grace Hopper was credited with devising the first computer
compiler, a program that translates instructions for a computer from
English to machine language.
1954 Machine vision used computers to analyze digitized images from a
video camera. It was a breakthrough invention and the one of
which Jerome Lemelson was most proud despite the hundreds of
others that he produced over the next forty-five years.
1958 It was a relatively simple device that Jack Kilby showed to a handful
of co-workers gathered in TI͛s semiconductor lab. Only a transistor
and other components on a slice of germanium. Kilby͛s invention,
called an integrated circuit, was about to revolutionize the
electronics industry.
1966 The hand-held calculator was invented at Texas Instruments,
Incorporated (TI) in 1966 by a development team which included
Jerry D. Merryman, James H. Van Tassel and Jack St. Clair Kilby.
1967 Robert Heath Dennard invented the one-transistor dynamic random
access memory DRAM in 1967. It has become the standard for the
RAM industry and enabled the microcomputer revolution.
1968 Ted Hoff's knowledge of computers (then still very large machines)
allowed him to design the computer-on-a-
chip microprocessor (1968), which came on the market as the Intel
4004 (1971), starting the microcomputer industry.

Douglas Engelbart had invented a number of interactive, user-

friendly information access systems that we take for granted today:
the computer mouse was one of his inventions.
1973 Robert Metcalfe needed something that was fast, could connect
hundreds of computers and span the whole building, Something like
a local area network, which Metcalfe developed in a rudimentary
 form in 1973 and dubbed Ethernet.

The Internet and Transmission Control Protocols (TCP/IP) were

initially developed in 1973 by American computer scientist Vinton
Cerf.

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) invents protoype of the

world's first personal computer, the Alto, with innovations including
the first what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor, first commercial use
of a mouse, graphical user interface, and bit-mapped display. Its
commercial descendant was the 8010 Star.
1976 In what is now the Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
created a homemade microprocessor computer board called Apple
I Personal Computer..
1977 Dennis C. Hayes and Dale Heatherington invent the PC modem in
1977, establishing the critical technology that allowed today's online
and Internet industries to emerge and grow.
1982 The HX-20, the first notebook-sized portable computer is introduced
by Epson.
1991 The World Wide Web is a system of resources that enable computer
users to view and interact with a variety of information.




This section is a summary of some of the material contained in Hobbes' Internet Timeline and
also contains sources from Pros Online - Internet History, What is the Internet? and History of
Internet and WWW : View from NetValley and a variety of text books. Consult these source for
more detailed information.


-- . Cooke and Wheatstone patent it. Why is this relevant?

Ô? Revolutionised human (tele)communications.

Ô? Morse Code a series of dots and dashes used to communicate between humans.
This is not a million miles away from how computers communicate via (binary
0/1) data today. Although it is much slower!!

 !
 -- ""#. Allowed direct instantaneous communication across the atlantic.
Why is this relevant?

Ô? Today, cables connect all continents and are still a main hub of
telecommunications.

$
-- . Alexander Graham Bell Exhibits.

Why is this relevant?

Ô? Telephones exchanges provide the backbone of Internet connections today.

Ô? Modems provide Digital to Audio conversions to allow computers to connect
over the telephone network.

% $
-- &&'("&(), first artificial earth satellite. Why is this relevant?

Ô? The start of global telecommunications. Satellites play an important role in

transmitting all sorts of data today.
Ô? In response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the
Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology
applicable to the military.

%*!%
-- ")!+",&-+)./. Why is this relevant?

Ô? As we will see later the Internet relies on packets to transfer data.

Ô? The origin is military : for utmost security in transferring information of networks
(

 

).
Ô? Data is split into tiny packets that may take different routes to a destination.
Ô? Hard to eavesdrop on messages.
Ô? More than one route available -- if one route goes down another may be
followed.
Ô? Networks can withstand large scale destruction (Nuclear attack - This was the
time of the Cold War).

%%
 -- 4

ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking

Why is this relevant?

Ô? First node at UCLA (Los Angeles) closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research
Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).

%$
-- "00("/+)

Ô? 15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET.

Ô? E-mail invented -- a program to send messages across a distributed network.
Why is this relevant?

`? E-mail is still the main way of inter-person communication on the

Internet today.
`? We will study how to use and send E-mail shortly in this course.
`? ùou will make extensive use of E-mail for the rest of your life.

%$*
-- 0("""0.

Ô? First public demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines.

Ô? Internetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing
agreed upon protocols.

Why is this relevant?

`? Telnet specification
`? Telnet is still a relevant means of inter-machine connection today.

%$
-- #+)#"0

Ô? First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London

(England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway)
Ô? Ethernet outlined -- this how local networks are basically connected today.
Ô? Internet ideas started.
 Ô? Gateway architecture sketched on back of envelope in hotel lobby in San
Francisco. Gateways define how large networks (maybe of different architecture)
can be connected together.
Ô? File Transfer protocol specified -- how computers send and receive data.

%$1
-- ")#"00.

Ô? Transmission Control Program (TCP) specified. Packet network

Intercommunication -- the basis of Internet Communication.
Ô? Telenet, a commercial version of ARPANET, opened -- the first public packet data
service.

%$
-- +)"00

Ô? ueen Elizabeth sends out an e-mail.

Ô? UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with
UNIX.

Why is this relevant?

`? UNIX was and still is the main operating system used by universities and
research establishments.
`? These machines could now ``talk'' over a network.
`? Networking exposed to many users worldwide.

%$$
-- c!0)2#"0

Ô? Number of hosts breaks 100.

Ô? THEORùNET provides electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer
science (using a locally developed E-mail system and TELENET for access to
server).
Ô? Mail specification
Ô? First demonstration of ARPANET/Packet Radio Net/SATNET operation of Internet
protocols over gateways.

%$%
-- +(#

Ô? Computer Science Department research computer network established in USA.

 Ô? USENET established using UUCP.

Why is this relevant?

`? USENET still thrives today.

`? A collection of discussions groups, 
 
.
`? 3 news groups established by the end of the year
`? Almost any topic now has a discussion group.

%$%, -

Ô? First MUD (Multiuser Dungeon) -- interactive multiuser sites. Interactive

adventure games, board games, rich and detailed databases.
Ô? ARPA establishes the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB).
Ô? Packet Radio Network (PRNET) experiment starts with ARPA funding. Most
communications take place between mobile vans.

%
-- "0

Ô? BITNET, the "Because It's Time NETwork" Started as a cooperative network at

the City University of New ùork, with the first connection to ùale

`? Provides electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute information, as

well as file transfers
Ô? CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) established to provide networking services
(specially E-mail) to university scientists with no access to ARPANET. CSNET later
becomes known as the Computer and Science Network.

%*
--  3.(("00("

Ô? DCA and ARPA establishes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet
Protocol (IP), as the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for ARPANET.

Why is this relevant?

 `? Leads to one of the first definitions of an  as a connected set of
networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and  as connected
TCP/IP internets.

%*, -

Ô? EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide E-mail and

USENET services. Original connections between the Netherlands, Denmark,
Sweden, and UK
Ô? External Gateway Protocol specification -- EGP is used for gateways between
(different architecture) networks.

%
-- #

Ô? Name server developed.

Why is this relevant?

`? Large number of nodes.

`? Hard to remember exact paths
`? Use meaningful names instead.

Ô? Desktop workstations come into being.

Why is this relevant?

`? Many with Berkeley UNIX which includes IP networking software.

`? Need switches from having a single, large time sharing computer
connected to Internet per site, to connection of an entire local network.

%, -

Ô? Internet Activities Board (IAB) established, replacing ICCB

Ô? Berkeley releases new version of UNIX 4.2BSD incorporating TCP/IP.
 Ô? EARN (European Academic and Research Network) established on similar lines to
BITNET

%1
-- + (

Ô? Number of hosts breaks 1,000.

Ô? Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced.

`? instead of 123.456.789.10
`? it is easier to remember something like

www.myuniversity.mydept.mynetwork.mycountry

(
 www.cs.cf.ac.uk).

Ô? JANET (Joint Academic Network) established in the UK

Ô? Moderated newsgroups introduced on USENET.

%
-- +'.

Ô? 5, 000 Hosts. 241 News groups.

Ô? NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56 Kbps)
Ô? NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power for
all -- This allows an explosion of connections, especially from universities.
Ô? Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) designed to enhance Usenet news
performance over TCP/IP.

%$
-- 00"4

Ô? Number of hosts 28,000.

Ô? UUNET is founded with Usenix funds to provide commercial UUCP and Usenet
access.

%

Ô? NSFNET backbone upgraded to T1 (1.544 Mbps)

 Ô? Internet Relay Chat (IRC) developed

%%
-- +

Ô? Number of hosts breaks 100,000

Ô? First relays between a commercial electronic mail carrier and the Internet
Ô? Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
comes into existence under the IAB

%%4
-- c5"(

Ô? 300,000 Hosts. 1,000 News groups

Ô? ARPANET ceases to exist
Ô? Archie released files can be searched and retrieved (FTP) by name.
Ô? The World comes on-line (world.std.com), becoming the first commercial
provider of Internet dial-up access.

%%
--
.4

Ô? Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) Association, Inc. formed after NSF lifts
restrictions on the commercial use of the Net.
Ô? Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) Why is relevant?

`? Provides a mechanism for indexing and accessing information on the

Internet.
`? Large bodies of knowledge available: E-mail messages, text, electronic
books, Usenet articles, computer code, image, graphics, sound files,
databases .
`? These form the basis of the index of information we see on WWW today.
`? Powerful search techniques implemented. Keyword search.

%%,"-
-- ."666#.
 Ô? Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the U of Minnesota.
Why is relevant?

`? Text based, menu-driven interface to access internet resources.

`? No need to remember or even know complex computer command. User
Friendly Interface (?).
`? Largely superseded by WWW, these days.

%%,"-
--
0./0.

Ô? World-Wide Web (WWW) released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer. Why is

relevant?

`? Originally developed to provide a distributed hypermedia system.

`? Easy access to any form of information anywhere in the world.
`? Initially non-graphic (this came later, MOSAIC, 1993).
`? Revolutionised modern communications and even our, way of life (?).
Ô? NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736 Mbps). NSFNET traffic passes 1 trillion
bytes/month and 10 billion packets/month
Ô? Start of JANET IP Service (JIPS) using TCP/IP within the UK academic network.

%%*
--
(0.""

Ô? Number of hosts breaks 1 Million. News groups 4,000

Ô? Internet Society (ISOC) is chartered.
Ô? First MBONE audio multicast (March) and video multicast (November).
Ô? The term "Surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.

%%
-- 666'/((#

Ô? Number of Hosts 2 Million. 600 WWW sites.

Ô? InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services
`? directory and database services
`? registration services
`? information services
Ô? Business and Media really take notice of the Internet.
Ô? US White House and United Nations (UN) comes on-line.
Ô? Mosaic takes the Internet by storm. Why is this relevant?
 `? User Friendly Graphical Front End to the World Wide Web.
`? Develops into Netscape -- most popular WWW browser to date.
`? WWW proliferates at a 341,634

%%1
-- 00"#

Ô? Number of Hosts 3 Million. 10,000 WWW sites. 10,000 News groups.

Ô? ARPANET/Internet celebrates 25th anniversary
Ô? Local communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet (Lexington and
Cambridge, Mass., USA)
Ô? US Senate and House provide information servers
Ô? Shopping malls, banks arrive on the Internet
`? A new way of life
`? ùou can now order pizza from the Hut online in the US.
`? First Virtual, the first cyberbank, open up for business
Ô? NSFNET traffic passes 10 trillion bytes/month
Ô? WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind
ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET
Ô? UK's HM Treasury on-line (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/)

%%
-- 00""("

Ô? 6.5 Million Hosts, 100,000 WWW Sites.

Ô? NSFNET reverts back to a research network. Main US backbone traffic now
routed through interconnected network providers
Ô? WWW surpasses ftp-data in March as the service with greatest traffic on NSFNet
based on packet count, and in April based on byte count
Ô? Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin
to provide Internet access
Ô? A number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack.
Ô? Registration of domain names is no longer free.
Ô? Technologies of the ùear: WWW, Search engines (WAIS development).
Ô? New WWW technologies Emerge Technologies

`? Mobile code (JAVA, JAVAscript, ActiveX),

`? Virtual environments (VRML),
`? Collaborative tools (CU-SeeMe)

%%
--
"

Ô? 12.8 Million Hosts, 0.5 Million WWW Sites.

 Ô? Internet phones catch the attention of US telecommunication companies who
ask the US Congress to ban the technology (which has been around for years)
Ô? The WWW browser war begins , fought primarily between Netscape and
Microsoft, has rushed in a new age in software development, whereby new
releases are made quarterly with the help of Internet users eager to test
upcoming (beta) versions.

%%$
-- 657

Ô? 19.5 Million Hosts, 1 Million WWW sites, 71,618 Newsgroups.

6660
Started development in the 1960's in the USA as a way for government and major research
sites to protect information from nuclear war. Four networks were set up to protect vital U.S.
documents and military information.
In the 1970s, with the threat of war down, major research universities and large corporations
continue to develop the internet as a means to transfer information.
In the later 1970s computer development, including data line transfer was first introduced as
a means of faster communication connections.
First generation E-Mail transfers were being developed by corporations and the military
around 1981.
Around 1985 the University of Minnesota developed a Gopher program for information
exchange via its campus.
Gopher and link-text files became the standard for Internet development in the mid 1980's,
Internet usage increased during this time.
Late 1980's continued development in data transfer and gophers', ftp, and E-mail made the
Internet more commonplace.
In 1989 the first commercial data transfer companies appeared.
In 1989 the CERN group (German-British-French) created HTTP language.
In 1991 the first WWW page appeared in Europe as links pages.
In 1992 HTML and graphic transfering was completed, Web pages with pictures appeared for
the first time in Europe.
1993 started the WWW useage in the USA, almost 1 million web pages were produced.
1995 Netscape was the standard Web Browser world-wide. Java language was created.
1996 Shockwave and Real Audio debuted.
1997 IC and chat lines developed.
2000 ICAN created 7 new address domains:.name,.coop,.aero,.biz,.info,.museum,.pro.
Today over 975 million web pages exsist and now digital satellite technology is being
developed along with other non-phone data transfering