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The Development of the Internet: A Brief History
A compact chronological overview of how the internet grew from the ARPANET research project of 1969 into the commercial, global network people use today.
Communication and Computing
Internet and Networks
The internet, the web browser, fibre optic links and connected devices.
The Development of the Computer Network: A Global Connection
How small local networks such as Ethernet were joined over leased lines and gateways into wide-area networks, and eventually into a single global system.
The Development of the Fiber Optic Cable: From Laboratory Experiment to Commercial Use
How 1960s laboratory work on low-loss glass led to optical fibre that carried phone traffic in the late 1970s, and why purity of the glass was the key.
The Development of the First Fiber Optic Cable: A Digital Breakthrough
How light-carrying glass cables enabled high-capacity digital links and undersea routes, and why credit for the first fiber optic cable is shared among many.
The Development of the First Internet Browser: A Digital Gateway
The early web browsers of 1990 to 1993, from Tim Berners-Lee's WorldWideWeb at CERN to the graphical browsers that opened the web to the public.
The Development of the Internet of Things (IoT)
Where the phrase Internet of Things came from, and the early networked devices, from a campus vending machine to RFID-tagged objects, that led to it.
The Development of the Internet of Things (IoT): A Connected World
How connected household and city devices spread from X10 modules to voice assistants and smart meters, and the privacy and security concerns they raised.
The Development of the Internet: A Global Network
The technical idea of packet switching and the TCP/IP protocols that let separate networks join into one global network, and who contributed to each.
The History of the Internet: A Brief History
The short version of the internet's origins in three stages: the idea of linked computers, the first research network, and the protocols that joined networks together.
The History of the Internet: A Brief Overview
Why the internet is a network of networks: how shared protocols, layering and open standards let separate systems connect and grow without a central owner.
The History of the Internet: A Timeline of Its Development
A dated outline of the internet's development, from early packet-switching ideas and ARPANET in 1969 to TCP/IP, the World Wide Web and the mobile internet.
The History of the Internet: From ARPANET to Global Network
The ARPANET research network, its first connections and how it grew through the 1970s and 1980s into the wider network of the 1990s and the world beyond.
The Story of the First Computer Network
Networking before ARPANET: SAGE and SABRE terminal links, time-sharing, modems and the 1965 experiment that made computers talk to each other.
The Story of the First Computer Network: A Cyber Revolution
The social and economic effects of connecting computers, from the first email and shared files to bulletin boards, Usenet and early online communities.
The Story of the First Computer Network: ARPANET
The 1969 ARPANET told through its hardware: the Interface Message Processors that acted as the first routers, the leased lines and the first message between sites.
The Story of the First Internet Browser: Mosaic and Netscape Navigator
How the graphical browsers Mosaic and Netscape Navigator brought the web to ordinary users in the 1990s, and the companies and rivalries that grew from them.
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