An argument was raised up recently about the person behind the Internet. Who do you think was the father of the internet?
I recalled an article on The Sunday Times of UK on September 25, 2008 by Mike Harvey, Technology Correspondent. Read the article below and post your comments.
"No one person invented the internet. However, certain figures contributed major breakthroughs.
Leonard Kleinrock, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a paper in 1961 on packet switching. This concept, essential to the internet, is that packets of data can be sent from one place to another based on address information carried in the data, much like the address on a letter.
J.C.R. Licklider was the first to describe an internet-like worldwide network of computers, in 1962. He called it the "Galactic Network."
Larry G. Roberts created the first functioning long-distance computer networks in 1965. He designed the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), under the auspices of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as a means to share information on defense research.
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn invented the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) which moves data on the modern Internet, in 1972 and 1973. They went on to develop the IP protocol. If any two people "invented the Internet," it was Kahn and Cerf.
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web with Robert Cailliau in 1990 while working at CERN. He wrote the first web browser and invented both the HTML markup language and the HTTP protocol used to request and transmit web pages between web servers and web browsers.
Al Gore did not invent the internet (and did not specifically claim to have done so) but he did play a substantial part, when in Congress, in overseeing the US legal framework and other government issues related to the internet."
Who were the 'fathers of the internet'? - Times Online (http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4823707.ece)
I do not think that 'internet' origination can be attached to one person but to collaborators who have been part of the inspiration behind the Internet. Read another article about "The father of the Internet". The article was reported on Discover Magazine of December 2008 issue and published on November 2008. The title -The "Father of the Internet" Would Rather You Call Him "Vint"- was actually referring Vinton G. "Vint" Cerf as the father of the Internet.
Read the full article below:
Vinton G. "Vint" Cerf isn't crazy about being called "the father of the Internet"—he insists that many people were involved in its invention. But he is the man who did the most to make it happen, writing the communication protocol for Arpanet (the "original" Internet developed by the Defense Department in the late 1960s) and codesigning the protocols (known as TCP/IP—Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) that allow computers everywhere to communicate with each other, giving us access to whole worlds of information. In 2005 Cerf (and longtime collaborator Robert Kahn) received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given in the United States, in recognition of work that had placed them "at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment."
[attachimg=1 align=right] Cerf has attributed his interest in the Internet in part to having lost much of his hearing when he was a child. Internet communication technologies, he points out, provide "a level playing field" for deaf people.
Most recently Cerf has been involved with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in helping move the Internet to other parts of the universe. The "Interplanetary Internet" will create new means of communication from planet to planet with the use of radio/laser technologies.
An appreciation by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and holder of the 3Com Founders Chair at the MIT Lab for Computer Science.
Vint's great success was to make the Internet a platform that is usable for all kinds of future technologies, without trying to second-guess what they might be. Thanks to this approach, I was able to design the Web on top of the Internet because it was a strong but plain foundation for things to come. In designing Web technology, we try to take the same approach.
As a person, Vint has been not only an engineer but a leader. He has tried to ensure that both the Net and the community of developers evolve in a healthy way. This means both sound engineering and a positive impact on society.
The "Father of the Internet" Would Rather You Call Him "Vint" | Computers | DISCOVER Magazine (http://discovermagazine.com/2008/dec/14-the-father-of-the-internet-would-rather-you-call-him-vint)