The British invented much of the Internet
Summary: BBC News reports that many Internet technologies were pioneered by British researchers...
It wasn't Al Gore after all. The British invented the Internet, or rather key technologies which make up the Internet.
Take a look at this article on BBC News about early British computer pioneers.
By splitting data into packets and threading them on the same line, the carrying capacity of that link could be boosted and the whole network made more powerful.
Roger Scantlebury, who worked with Dr Davies, presented the ideas about "packet switching" to a conference in the US, where they were picked up by the creators of the nascent Arpanet, the fledgling internet.
Does that mean Britain invented the internet?
"Yes and no," said Mr Scantlebury. "Certainly the underlying technology of the internet, which is packet switching, we did invent."
British researchers also worked on hyperlinks...
David Yates was project manager of a program called Scrapbook which rolled together word processing, e-mail and hypertext - a system that incorporated many elements of the World Wide Web.
Scrapbook went live on 28 April 1971...Scrapbook helped people across the 28 acres of the NPL campus collaborate or projects without having to sit next to each other.
Tim Berners-Lee, is a Brit and he invented the world wide web... So maybe the British did invent the Internet but with typical British modesty, didn't want to blow their own horn. At least until now.
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Talkback
But what about the 'Lock Box'?
RE: The British invented much of the Internet
Big Al will have nothing left.
RE: The British invented much of the Internet
RE: The British invented much of the Internet
The internet is a composite technology drawn from many
disciplines and in all cases standing on the shoulders of
giants of many nationalities. I personally worked on two
different packet-switching network protocols in England in
the 70s.
Significant British contributions include the hyperlink
(already mentioned) and the EDFA, without which glass
would be useless.
RE: The British invented much of the Internet
No one person or nation 'invented' the internet. As others have said or alluded to, it was a package of technologies and ideas that evolved into the 'internet' and it is still evolving through the contributions of many nations and nationalities. Truely a global and living invention.
RE: The British invented much of the Internet
Packets itself is a much older idea
Packets is just applying that to a computing situation. Nothing new under the sun
RE: The British invented much of the Internet