Summary
Highlights
The internet, a world-changing invention, is the product of the famous collaboration between Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn. While nobody solely invented the internet, Cerf and Kahn are known as the two fathers for designing the backbone that allows computers to communicate.
Cerf and Kahn were not typical kids. Their careers in computer networking in the 1970s involved few existing computer networks. The ARPANET, a government-funded attempt to link computers with wildly different hardware, used packet switching for data transfer but was slow and unreliable, similar to sending postcards that might or might not arrive in order.
Cerf and Kahn set out to improve the ARPANET's system to send long messages quickly and reliably. They overhauled the packet delivery system by imposing a set of rules, or protocols, on senders and recipients. These rules, known as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), ensured that numbered packets arrived in the correct order and that receipt was acknowledged. This groundbreaking protocol allowed different hardware schemes to communicate quickly and reliably, giving birth to the internet.
More than 40 years later, TCP/IP continues to power the internet, enabling almost every major web innovation, from email to streaming media and instant access to information. Cerf and Kahn's problem-solving and collaboration changed the world.