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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARPANET | 6/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:35:36.923745+00:00 | kb-cron |
The technological advancements and practical applications achieved through the ARPANET were instrumental in shaping modern computer networking including the Internet. Development and implementation of the concepts of packet switching, decentralized networks, and communication protocols laid the foundation for a global network that revolutionized communication, information sharing and collaborative research across the world. The ARPANET was related to many other research projects, which either influenced the ARPANET design, were ancillary projects, or spun out of the ARPANET. Senator Al Gore authored the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991, commonly referred to as "The Gore Bill", after hearing the 1988 concept for a National Research Network submitted to Congress by a group chaired by Leonard Kleinrock. The bill was passed on 9 December 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII) which Gore called the information superhighway. The ARPANET project was honored with two IEEE Milestones, both dedicated in 2009. On May 17, 2011, Arlington County, Virginia erected two historical markers commemorating the internet's roots, at 1400 Wilson Boulevard, in its Rosslyn neighborhood, the agency's home from 1970 to 1975.
=== Debate about design goals === According to Charles Herzfeld, ARPA Director (1965–1967):
The ARPANET was not started to create a Command and Control System that would survive a nuclear attack, as many now claim. To build such a system was, clearly, a major military need, but it was not ARPA's mission to do this; in fact, we would have been severely criticized had we tried. Rather, the ARPANET came out of our frustration that there were only a limited number of large, powerful research computers in the country, and that many research investigators, who should have access to them, were geographically separated from them. The ARPANET used distributed computation and incorporated frequent re-computation of routing tables (automatic routing was technically challenging at the time). These features increased the survivability of the network in the event of significant interruption. Furthermore, the ARPANET was designed to survive subordinate network losses. However, the Internet Society agrees with Herzfeld in a footnote in their online article, A Brief History of the Internet:
It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started, claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, but was an aspect of the earlier RAND study of secure communication. The later work on internetworking did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks. Paul Baran, the first to put forward a theoretical model for communication using packet switching, conducted the RAND study referenced above. Though the ARPANET did not exactly share Baran's project's goal, he said his work did contribute to the development of the ARPANET. Minutes taken by Elmer Shapiro of Stanford Research Institute at the ARPANET design meeting of 9–10 October 1967 indicate that a version of Baran's routing method ("hot potato") may be used, consistent with the NPL team's proposal at the Symposium on Operating System Principles in Gatlinburg. Later, in the 1970s, ARPA did emphasize the goal of "command and control". According to Stephen J. Lukasik, who was deputy director (1967–1970) and Director of DARPA (1970–1975):
The goal was to exploit new computer technologies to meet the needs of military command and control against nuclear threats, achieve survivable control of US nuclear forces, and improve military tactical and management decision making.
== See also ==
.arpa – Internet top-level domain Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing – 1972 documentary film History of the Internet List of Internet pioneers OGAS – Soviet internet-like project, automation of economy Plan 55-A Protocol Wars – Computer science debate Telehack – ARPANET simulation Timeline of the history of the Internet Usenet – Worldwide computer-based distributed discussion system
== References ==
== Sources == Evans, Claire L. (2018). Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. ISBN 978-0-7352-1175-9. Hafner, Katie; Lyon, Matthew (1996). Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-6837-4.