The “founder of the Internet” refers to multiple individuals and teams who contributed to its development over several decades. Key figures include:
- Tim Berners-Lee: Invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, a system that allows for the creation and browsing of websites through hyperlinks. The Web is often mistakenly referred to as the “Internet,” but it’s actually a service that runs on top of it.
- Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn: These two are often referred to as the “fathers of the Internet” because they developed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), the fundamental communication protocols that underpin the Internet.
- Paul Baran and Donald Davies: Independently developed the concept of packet switching, which is a crucial method of transmitting data over a network and is foundational to how the Internet works today.
The Internet evolved from earlier computer networks such as ARPANET, which was established in the late 1960’s by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Many other scientists, engineers, and institutions contributed to building the Internet as we know it today.
