Year

Milestones in the Evolution of the Internet 

1945

• Vannevar Bush writes an article in Atlantic Monthly about a photo-electrical-mechanical device called a Memex for memory extension. The Memex could make and follow links between documents on microfiche. 

1958

• U.S. forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to make a presence in science and technology applicable to the military.

1960s

• Doug Engelbart prototypes an "online system" which does hypertext browsing, editing, and email. He invents the "mouse" for this purpose.
• J.C.R. Licklider authored the first description of social interactions that could be enabled through electronic networking
• The ARPANET network (Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. government) went live in 1969 when communications were established between University of California at Los Angeles and the Stanford Research Institute. Four host computers were incorporated into the network and the Internet was off the ground.

1970s

• Electronic mail was added as an application, and would become probably the most significant innovation from the era.
• First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway).
• Early networks consisting of personal computers as well as large time-sharing systems are used to access the Internet. Networks were largely restricted to closed communities of scholars.

1980s

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded $200 million from 1986-1995 to support the growth of the Internet.
• The NSF began encouraging commercial network traffic at the local and regional level.
• Widespread development of LANS, PCs, and workstations allowed the Internet to flourish. Desktop workstations were invented.
• Electronic mail was being used broadly for daily computer communications. 

1990s

• The world comes online. World.std.com is the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access.
• The term "Surfing the Internet" is coined.
• RealAudio, an audio streaming technology, lets the Net hear in near real-time.
• Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin to provide Internet access.

2000s

• Web size estimates surpass billions of pages.
• The World Wide Web is used by a rapidly growing number of businesses and organizations worldwide to communicate, advertise, and interact with potential clients and customers.