Internet History Timeline summary by Eyewebmaster. This information was taken from Quirk an e-commerce expert.
1958 :US ARPA (advanced research projects agency) established to lead science and military technological developments.
1961 :MIT research paper of Packet Switching Theory.
1961-69 : Ongoing research into inter-computer communications and networks.
1969 :ARPANET, commissioned by US Defense Department, goes live. US universities connect up network facilities for the first time.
1971 :Ray Tomlinson creates first network email application.
1973 : Development of protocols to enable multi-network Internet opportunities. First international ARPANET connections made.
1976 :HM Queen Elizabeth II sends an email.
1978 :First spam email is recorded.
1980 :Tim Berners-Lee develops rules for the World Wide Web and is credited as the Web Father. Alan Emtage develops the first search tool known as ‘ARCHIE’.
1982 :Standard network protocols are established: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), commonly referred to as TCIP/IP.
1984 :Joint Academic Network (JANET) is established, linking higher education institutions. Domain Name System (DNS) is introduced.
1985 :A company named Symbolics becomes the first registered dot.com domain.
1987 :National Science Foundation (US) is the catalyst for the surge in funded work into the Internet. Number of Internet hosts increases significantly in this period.
1988-90 :28 countries sign up to hook up to the NSFNET, reinforcing international Internet potential. 1990 :Senator Al Gore coins the term ‘information superhighway’. 1991 Web Father, Tim Berners-Lee releases World Wide Web (www) with scientists from CERN.
1992 :America Online (AOL) is launched and raises $23m in floatation. The term ‘surfing the net’ is introduced by Jean Armour Polly. The World Bank goes online.
1993 :Mainstream media attention increases awareness of the Internet. First Internet publication. Wired, goes on sale. Mosaic introduces the first web browser with graphical interface and is the forerunner of Netscape Navigator. First online shopping malls and virtual banks emerge as does evidence of spam. First clickable banner advert is sold by Global Network Navigator to a law firm.
1995 :Amazon is launched by Jeff Bezos. Trial dial up systems such as AOL and CompuServe launch. Charging is introduced for domain names. Search technology companies such as Alta Vista, Infoseek, Excite and Metacrawler rapidly appear.
1996 :Yahoo! is launched on the stock exchange and shares are up nearly 300% on first day.
1997 :MP3.com is founded. The term “search engine optimisation” is used for the first time in a forum.
1998 :XML is released to enable compatibility between different computer systems. Google founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
1999 : Peter Merholz coins the word “blog”.
2000 :AOL and Time-Warner announce they are merging. Pay-per-Click campaigns are introduced for top ten search rankings. Google AdWords launches, charging for adverts on a CPM basis.
2002 :UK online monthly consumer shopping breaks through the £1 billion barrier. Google AdWords charges on a PPC basis 2003 eBay topples Amazon as the most visited UK web site.
2004 :CD-WOW loses court case and rights to source cheaper CDs outside EU, undermining the global concept of the Internet.
2005 :Iceland leads the world with broadband penetration: 26.7 inhabitants per 100 have broadband compared with 15.9 per 100 in the UK.
2006 :Google buys YouTube for $1.6 billion. Facebook membership opens to anyone. Technorati notes that a blog is created every second of every day. Time Magazine names “You” as person of the year, due to online activity.
2008 :Firefox 3.0 launches with over 8 million downloads in 24 hours. Internet usage tops 1,407,724,920 worldwide.
Internet worldwide is very important in this modern time because through technology you can be able to share data and information easily. It is also commonly being used by business, communications, and other establishments.