The real story of who invented the Internet, how the Internet came to be and the International communications race that it inspired is a tale that begins in the 19th century. Long before the technology existed to support an interconnected network of computers, there were the futurists, technologists and even writers who were actively dreaming of a world where we were only separated by screens.

The fact is there a sequence of events and a few key players who created the frame work and protocols that made the Internet technically possible. But that’s not where the story begins.

The Writer & The Inventor

In 1898, an unlikely participant in the story of the Internet is American writer, Mark Twain. Twain’s well documented fascination with technology transcended his folksy image – he invested in failed startups, he was the first in his neighbourhood to get a telephone, he’s rumoured to being the first major author to use a typewriter and he was famously filmed by Thomas Edison in 1909, a year before his death.

So it’s no surprise that beyond the folksy tales that defined American literature, he also tried his hand at sci-fi. In particular, his lesser known short story “From the ‘London Times’ 1904” which was a rare exploration of the bourgeoning genre of sci-fi.

The story is a sci-fi crime mystery that features a man accused of murdering the inventor of a new device called “Telectroscope” a device that:

As soon as the Paris contract released the telelectroscope, it was delivered to public use, and was soon connected with the telephonic systems of the whole world. The improved ‘limitless-distance’ telephone was presently introduced and the daily doings of the globe made visible to everybody, and audibly discussable too, by witnesses separated by any number of leagues.

Twain’s story is the earliest prediction of the internet followed by Nikola Tesla. Tesla has had some insanely accurate predictions, including his obsession with wireless technology and the invention of wi-fi. His theories focused on transmitting data like documents, music and video without wires, a prediction that wouldn’t come true for another 64 years when the Internet would be a widespread success.

ARPA & ARPANET

Throughout the 60s ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) an arm of the U.S. Defense department, was looking at ways to bring computing to the front lines by connecting computers at defence agencies, universities and the government to provide shared resources on research and other vital information. The project itself was called the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the forerunner to the Internet. However, it had one major problem: it was not mobile

ARPANET computers were massive and they communicated over fixed links – which was great for researchers who could sit at a terminal, but terrible for soldiers in the field who needed to access information from anywhere.

Between the late 60s and early 80s, a few key developments took place at ARPA. Scientist, Leonard Kleinrock from UCLA was brought in to develop mathematical methods for packet network technology – technology that is still used today. It basically breaks up information into smaller pieces to be sent across the web only to be reassembled on the other end. This is pretty common for email. As well as contracting computer scientists Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn who are credited with inventing the Internet communication protocols (TCP/IP) we use today and the system referred to as the Internet.

It is through the combined efforts of Kleinrock, Cerf and Kahn that allowed for the Kleinrock’s packets of data to be successfully transmitted by radio signal from Rossoti’s (a beer garden in now Silicon Valley) by way of ARPANET to a computer terminal 3,000 miles away in Boston using Cerf and Kahn communication protocols. The information was preserved perfectly and the world was one step closer to getting the Internet.

Making ARPANET Commercial

ARPANET had some downfalls. Sure, the technology worked, it was a huge advancement in transferring files that was designed to keep on working even in the event of a nuclear attack, but it couldn’t cope with newer technological advancements, it wasn’t built to evolve and it wasn’t built to successfully handle more computers on the network. ARPANET’s days were numbered until CERN’s Timother Berners Lee stepped in.

By 1990, Berners-Lee created the framework for the World Wide Web. By exploiting an emerging invention Hypertext (what we know as links), he had then written the three fundamental technologies that remain the foundation of today’s web:

• HTML: HyperText Markup Language. The markup (formatting) language for the web.
• URI: Uniform Resource Identifier. A kind of “address” that is unique and used to identify to each resource on the web. It is also commonly called a URL.
• HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Allows for the retrieval of linked resources from across the web.

He founded The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in Massachusetts which developed some of the ruling tenants of the Internet:

• Decentralisation: No permission is needed from a central authority to post anything on the web, there is no central controlling node, and so no single point of failure … and no “kill switch”! This also implies freedom from indiscriminate censorship and surveillance.
• Non-discrimination: If I pay to connect to the internet with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or a greater quality of service, then we can both communicate at the same level. This principle of equity is also known as Net Neutrality.
• Bottom-up design: Instead of code being written and controlled by a small group of experts, it was developed in full view of everyone, encouraging maximum participation and experimentation.
• Universality: For anyone to be able to publish anything on the web, all the computers involved have to speak the same languages to each other, no matter what different hardware people are using; where they live; or what cultural and political beliefs they have. In this way, the web breaks down silos while still allowing diversity to flourish.
• Consensus: For universal standards to work, everyone had to agree to use them. Tim and others achieved this consensus by giving everyone a say in creating the standards, through a transparent, participatory process at W3C.

(Source: The World Wide Web Foundation)

And that’s the story of who invented the Internet. There’s actually a lot more to the story, including Canada’s Telidon network, Britain’s Videotex and more. If you want to learn about it then check out this episode of Alt.Pop.Repeat with guest Amber MacArthur!