Well, Al Gore recently shared the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with Global Warming, but his real fame comes from his win of the Us Presidency in 2000 (yeah he won, but still loss), and of course inventing the internet, and global warming.
Did Gore Really Invent the Internet?
Legend has it that Al Gore actually invented the internet, but anyone who knows the actual history of the internet knows that he really did not have anything to do with it in an invention sense. The Urban legend all start on March 9th, 1999 during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN where Gore was asked what distinguished him from his democratic opponent Bill Bradley. Gore stated:
“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a wide range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection.”
Although he may have used some words which were construed as if he stated that he invented the internet, all that he meant was that he was proactive in the creation of the internet and it’s mainstream use, which is true. As a Congressman Gore actually was very active in promoting the system that we all enjoy this very day. If Gore never entered politics back in the early 1970’s would we have the internet today? More then likely we would, however it may have been slower to develope, and not as widely available to the public at first.
Who Invented the Internet?
Well its not a matter of who invented the internet, as it was a slow process of separate ideas and inventions which has led to what we see as the internet today. Here is a timeline:
* 1961: Leonard Kleinrock writes the first paper on packet switched networks.
* 1962: J.C.R. Licklider of MIT writes a paper describing a globally connected “Galactic Network” of computers.
* 1966: Larry Roberts proposes the ARPANET to the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).
* 1968: ARPA issues Request for Quotations for the Interface Message Processors (IMPs), which became the first routers.
* 1969: First IMP is installed at UCLA.
* Early 1970s: Universities and defense agencies and contractors begin to connect to ARPANET.
* 1973: Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf begin research into what eventually becomes IP - the Internet Protocol and its companion, TCP - the Transmission Control Protocol.
* 1973: Bob Metcalfe develops Ethernet, which had been the subject of his PhD thesis, while working at Xerox.
* Early 1980s: The Personal Computer revolution begins.
* Mid 1980s: Local Area Networks (LANs) begin to flourish in business and university environments. Campus area networks soon follow.
* January 1, 1983: All “old-style” traffic on the ARPANET ceases, as TCP/IP becomes the only protocol used. [Arguably, this is the date of the birth of the Internet as a functioning, practical, production network.]
* 1985: Dennis Jennings chooses TCP/IP as the protocol for the planned National Science Foundation Network (NSFnet).
* 1988: NSF sponsors a series of workshops at Harvard on the commercialization and privatization of the Internet.
* 1988: Kahn et al. write a paper “Towards a National Research Network.” According to the Brief History, “This report was influential on then Senator Al Gore, and ushered in high speed networks that laid the networking foundation for the future information superhighway.” [Emphasis added.]
* 1991: Mark McCahill et al. (University of Minnesota) release the Internet Gopher, the first widely-adopted menu-based system for browsing and retrieving Internet-based documents.
* 1991: Tim Berners-Lee et al. at the European Center for High-Energy Physics (CERN) describe the World Wide Web. The first browser is a line-mode tool.
* 1993: Mark Andreessen et al. at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois release Mosaic, the first widely-adopted graphical browser for the Web
* 1993: NCSA releases Macintosh and Windows versions of Mosaic.
Now, Lets look at Gores Actual Contibutions:
* A 1983 proposal to build a national computer-based registry of organ donors and those in need of transplants.
* Legislation in 1987 to mandate copy protection mechanisms for Digital Audio Tape [ironic given the much greater copying problem introduced years later by the Internet and by Napster].
* A 1989 bill, unenacted, “to amend the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 to protect the environment of Antarctica.”
* A 1989 resolution, not passed, to “designate the month of May 1989 as National Digestive Disease Awareness Month.”
* A 1989 resolution, not passed, to “urge Noble Commission to consider awarding Nobel Prize recognition for achievements in preservation of the world environment.”
* A proposed resolution in 1990 calling on the government of Malaysia to preserve tropical rainforests.
* Proposed 1992 legislation, not enacted, that would “stabilize emissions of carbon dioxide to protect the global climate, and for other purposes.”
* Various bills over the years supporting funding for NASA.
* A resolution to establish the month of October 1989, as Country Music Month (not enacted).
As we have shown here, President Gore (Ooops I keep forgetting), didnt actually invent the internet but had a role it’s creation just like hundreds of other notable figures.
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