It’s the middle of summer vacation and you’re watching a really interesting movie with all your cousins. It’s a gripping sci-fi movie where a group of scientists has to fight off an alien invasion. The plot is getting thicker, and one of the scientists discovers that Trichosporon can kill the aliens!
But…wait…what exactly is Trichosporon? You ask your cousins, but none of them has heard of it either. What’s the easiest way for you to find out what Trichosporon is in this situation? The answer, of course, is searching the Internet.
But what if you did not have access to an internet connection? Where would you get the information then? You would most likely have to go to a library and spend hours poring over books to find the relevant information (there goes your movie). But with the internet, you have an entire library at your fingertips!
The internet makes our lives easy in so many ways. Even during this lockdown, the internet is helping us find information, stay connected with our loved ones, and explore the world while sitting at home. When you have an internet connection on your home computer, it becomes a part of this global network!
But what exactly is the internet?
Let’s take a look at where exactly the internet came from.
The internet has become an integral part of our daily lives, connecting people, information, and devices across the world. However, the internet's origins can be traced back to several decades ago when it was a fledgling network known as ARPANET. In this blog post, we will explore the fascinating evolution and history of the internet, from its humble beginnings to the interconnected global network we know today.
1. The Birth of ARPANET
The internet began in the 1960s as an experiment for the US military. During this time the USA was in a Cold War with Russia, and the US military wanted a secure way to communicate amongst themselves.
In the early 1970s, the RAND (Research and Development) Corporation developed a technology (later called “packet switching”) that allowed users to send secure voice messages. In contrast to a system known as the hub-and-spoke model, where the telephone operator (the “hub”) would patch two people (the “spokes”) through directly, this new system allowed for a voice message to be sent through an entire network, or web, of carrier lines, without the need to travel through a central hub, allowing for many different possible paths to the destination.
During the Cold War, the U.S. military was concerned about a nuclear attack destroying the hub in its hub-and-spoke model; with this new web-like model, a secure voice transmission would be more likely to endure a large-scale attack. A web of data pathways would still be able to transmit secure voice “packets,” even if a few of the nodes—places where the web of connections intersected—were destroyed. Only through the destruction of all the nodes in the web could the data traveling along it be completely wiped out—an unlikely event in the case of a highly decentralized network.
This decentralized network could only function through common communication protocols. Just as we use certain protocols when communicating over a telephone—“hello,” “goodbye,” and “hold on for a minute” are three examples—any sort of machine-to-machine communication must also use protocols. These protocols constitute a shared language enabling computers to understand each other clearly and easily.
Building Block of the Internet
In 1973, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began research on protocols to allow computers to communicate over a distributed network. This work paralleled work done by the RAND Corporation, particularly in the realm of a web-based network model of communication.
Instead of using electronic signals to send an unending stream of ones and zeros over a line (the equivalent of a direct voice connection), DARPA used this new packet-switching technology to send small bundles of data. This way, a message that would have been an unbroken stream of binary data—extremely vulnerable to errors and corruption—could be packaged as only a few hundred numbers.
The early Internet was called ARPANET, after the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency (which added “Defense” to its name and became DARPA in 1973), and consisted of just four hosts: UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. On October 29, 1969, the first message was sent over ARPANET between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
Now there are over half a million hosts, and each of those hosts likely serves thousands of people (Central Intelligence Agency). Each host uses protocols to connect to an ever-growing network of computers. Because of this, the Internet does not exist in any one place in particular; rather, it is the name we give to the huge network of interconnected computers that collectively form the entity that we think of as the Internet. The Internet is not a physical structure; it is the protocols that make this communication possible.
2. TCP/IP: The Internet Protocol Suite
One of the other core components of the Internet is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) gateway. Proposed in 1974, the TCP gateway acts “like a postal service. Without knowing a specific physical address, any computer on the network can ask for the owner of any IP address, and the TCP gateway will consult its directory of IP address listings to determine exactly which computer the requester is trying to contact.
The development of this technology was an essential building block in the interlinking of networks, as computers could now communicate with each other without knowing the specific address of a recipient; the TCP gateway would figure it all out. In addition, the TCP gateway checks for errors and ensures that data reaches its destination uncorrupted. Today, this combination of TCP gateways and IP addresses is called TCP/IP and is essentially a worldwide phone book for every host on the Internet.
TCP/IP provided a standardized method for data transmission and addressing, enabling different networks to communicate with each other, laying the foundation for the modern internet.
3. Expansion and Commercialization
During the 1980s, the Internet expanded beyond the realm of academia and research institutions. It became increasingly accessible to businesses and individuals. The National Science Foundation (NSF) played a crucial role in funding the development of the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET), which connected research and education institutions across the United States.
4. World Wide Web (WWW)
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web, revolutionizing the way we access and share information on the Internet. The WWW introduced hypertext, allowing users to navigate through interconnected web pages using hyperlinks.
Using HTTP, different computers could access the same websites. This made sharing information over the internet much easier and saw a huge boom in the number of websites! The web browser, Mosaic, developed in the early 1990s, further popularized the World Wide Web.
5. Dot-com Boom and Internet Revolution – WEB 1.0
The mid-1990s & Early 2000s witnessed the dot-com boom, with the rapid rise of internet-based companies. E-commerce, online services, and search engines became part of everyday life. Companies like Amazon, Google, and eBay emerged as internet giants, transforming various industries and shaping their digital landscape during this phase.
6. Mobile Internet and Broadband – WEB 2.0
Advancements in mobile technology and the widespread adoption of smartphones led to the mobile internet revolution. Mobile devices became powerful tools for accessing the internet, connecting people on the go. Additionally, the availability of broadband internet brought faster speeds and enhanced the online experience.
7. AI, ML, Internet of Things (IoT) and Future Possibilities – WEB 3.0
Interactive web powered by AI, decentralized data networks enabling users to own their data, and targeted advertising based on user behavior. The Internet continues to evolve, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is playing a significant role. IoT connects everyday objects and devices to the internet, enabling data exchange and automation.
With the advent of 5G technology, the internet's capabilities are set to expand further, enabling faster speeds, and low latency, and supporting emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and autonomous vehicles.
Conclusion
Starting from ARPANET, where computers could only send each other text-based messages, the world of the internet we have today is very different.
The internet has come a long way since its inception as ARPANET. What began as a small-scale network for research purposes has transformed into a global phenomenon that influences nearly every aspect of our lives. As we move forward, the internet will continue to evolve, shaping the future of communication, collaboration, and innovation.
Do you remember the first thing you searched on the internet? Share your knowledge in the comments!
Happy Learning :)