From packet switching to a network of networks
Research projects developed ways for computers and independent networks to communicate reliably.
Read the historyA living history of a global system
The network that became a world.
The internet began as an experiment in connecting computers. It became the shared infrastructure for knowledge, commerce, culture, conflict and everyday life.
Explore the complete storyOPEN PROTOCOLS · SHARED NETWORKS · GLOBAL REACH
The essential distinction
The internet is not the Web.
The internet is the underlying network of networks. The World Wide Web is one system built on top of it, alongside email, file transfer, messaging, streaming and many other services. Understanding this difference makes the whole story clearer.
Why no single machine runs the internet
Protocols, addresses, routing and names cooperate across thousands of independently operated networks.
See how it worksPower, freedom, safety and responsibility
The same openness that enables invention also creates difficult questions about governance and harm.
Examine the debatesA compressed timeline
Seven turning points.
No single person or moment created today’s internet. It emerged from decades of publicly funded research, open standards, private investment and countless contributions across the world.
The first ARPANET nodes
UCLA, SRI, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah form the initial four node network.
Internetworking takes shape
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn begin designing a protocol that can connect distinct packet networks.
TCP/IP becomes the common language
ARPANET switches to the protocol family that underpins the modern internet.
NSFNET expands academic access
A high speed backbone links research and education networks across the United States.
The Web is proposed
Tim Berners-Lee proposes a linked information system at CERN.
The Web is opened
CERN places core Web software in the public domain, allowing anyone to build on it without fees.
The internet becomes ambient
Smartphones, cloud computing, social platforms and streaming turn connectivity into an everyday environment.
An invention built to be built upon.
Open technical documentation and interoperable standards allowed new networks and applications to join without seeking permission from one central owner. That generative quality is among the internet’s greatest strengths, and the source of many of its hardest governance problems.