Find out when the Internet appeared

If there is something that has revolutionized the world of computing and telecommunications without a doubt it has been the Internet. We are facing a medium so present in the day-to-day life of our society that it is difficult not to spend a day without making use of it. Thus, the Internet is currently so integrated that we use it very frequently: to search for all kinds of information, to communicate with other people, to make purchases, etc. For this reason, the Internet can be considered a key element in the development and most recent history of the human being. Furthermore, we are aware of the evolution that this medium has undergone in recent years.

But, how did we do before having access to the Internet to access information? When did the Internet appear and how has it evolved to this day? We want to talk about this and many other questions in this new article by a PROFESSOR.

Index

1. How did the Internet come about and what is it?
2. Origin of the Internet
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3. The first steps of the Internet: the ARPANET
4. The development of the Internet: the NSFNET
5. Internet today

Before going fully into knowing when the Internet appeared, it is important to better understand this concept. Internet It is a very broad and narrow concept, which is why we want to dedicate this first section to defining the foundations of the concept itself. The term ''Internet '' is a lexical loan taken from English and according to the RAE it means '' global, decentralized computer network, formed by the direct connection between computers through a special communication protocol ''.

However, we cannot confuse the Internet with the term World Wide Web (www), which is an information system developed in 1989 by Tim Berners Lee and Robert Cailliau. These scientists were interested in being able to easily search and display documentation over the Internet. CERN scientists therefore designed this browser. This last service is the one that allows us access to information through what is known as HuperText Transfer Protocol (Http).

This would be the definition of the term Internet, let's go on to talk about its evolution and operation.

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Before the emergence of the Internet, the way to communicate over long distances was by means of the telegraph, invented in 1840 and using the Morse code to interpret the information.

What was then the impulse of its creation? The Internet was born as a military project in order to ensure communications between different parts of the United States in the event of an invasive attack. We are in the context of the Cold War. As we already know, it is about a warlike confrontation between two antagonistic blocs led by the capitalists (United States) and communists (USSR). What interests us in this period are the large investments that occurred between both sides in terms of technology that would undoubtedly affect the creation of the Internet.

The United States created this military network aiming that, in the event of a Russian attack, information could be accessed immediately and from anywhere in the country.

The network that we have talked about in the previous section was created in 1969 under the name of ARPANET. The United States and France, together with the support of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), carried out the first connection steps between computers.

Later, with the ARPANET, a network was created connecting universities and government agencies across the United States to improve communications. This system was growing and opening up to the world so much that anyone with academic or research purposes could have access to it.

In 1970 ARPANET is consolidated and the foundations are laid for what is now known as email.

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As we have said, the military functions were progressively detached from ASPANET joining MILNET, another new network created by the United States. During 1970 and 1980 there was a great take-off in the field of scientific research around the Internet, New open access networks would be created giving rise to what we know today as the Internet.

Until the 1990s these were years of great research and advancement in the field of networks. In 1993 Marc Andeersen created the first version of a browser: the ''Mosaic' ', which allowed easier access to the WWW.

It will be from this moment when Internet begins to grow eliminating all competition regarding other means of communication. Thus, it would become the Internet that we know today.

The technologies that were initially developed in order to solve military conflicts served to create the most important means of communication and cooperation in the world: Internet.

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Now that you know when the Internet appeared, let's get to know the situation today. In a span of 20 years, technology has radically changed the way we live due to the development of the Internet. This information infrastructure is so widespread that offers us infinite things: email, browsers, chats, search engines etc.

As we can see, its influence not only reaches the technical fields of computer communications, but also to a whole society that makes more and more use of online tools. Without any doubt, the Internet can be considered one of the great inventions of mankindand a key element in the development and recent history of the human being.

Currently, we are witnessing the incorporation and development phase of new devices (smartphones, tablets ...) thus opening a new period of evolution within the history of the Internet.

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