Who invented the internet? This is one of the most widely debated questions there is. This invention that has changed life as we know it, brought on new computer technologies, and continues to grow and expand every day. One thing we do know for sure is that, although he pushed for its development, Al Gore did not invent the internet.

It took many years and many people to invent the internet. A paper by Leonard Klein in 1961 discussed the concept of a “network” of computers. He was trying to find out how to put together a large communication net for information.

An agency for research projects was formed in the 1960’s by the U.S. Department of Defense. J.C.R. Licklider was the first director of the office for Information Processing formed in 1962. Licklider had the first vision of an entire network of computers.

In 1966 the ARPANET was launched. This was considered the forerunner to the internet. It linked universities and research centers. The ARPANET was using a milestone in technology, switching exchanges. The same year messages were sent between UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute. In 1972 Email was introduced. In 1974 the Telenet was introduced and was considered an ISP. It was also considered the first commercial version of the Internet.

There were two critical points of development in establishing the Internet. In 1975 Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the TCP/IP protocol. He proposed network computers in 1989. TCP/IP was standard protocol by 1982 and by 1991 “WWW” had been established. It was then that the Internet became known as a life changing invention.

So to answer the question, “Who invented the Internet, one of the many inventions that changed the world?” It took many people over several years to put all the many pieces together and come up with this amazing invention. Life will never be the same because of it.