Who Invented the Internet?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Former Vice President Al Gore famously launched a controversy when he claimed to have "created the internet" in a 1999 interview with CNN.

Gore did have something to do with legislating and funding the development of the internet, but he certainly didn't invent it.

The internet is undoubtedly one of the most incredible inventions of modern times. It has enabled nearly instantaneous global communication and revolutionized so many aspects of life.

We often talk about our most-beloved inventions as having a single inventor, even when scores of people were actually involved. The light bulb has an inventor, that is Thomas Edison, and the television has one too: Philo T. Farnsworth.

• So, surely there must be an inventor of the internet?

Well, it turns out history is more complicated than that!

As you read about the history of Who Invented the Internet?, write down information and ideas to answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

• Who were the people involved in coming up with the idea for the internet? What ideas did they contribute?
• Who were the people involved in developing the technology for the internet? What did they develop?
• Approximately how much time did it take to invent the internet?

After finding the answers, reflect on these additional questions.

• How do new things get invented?
• What kinds of resources were likely needed to create the internet?
• Why can we conclude that there is no single person who can be called the inventor of the internet?

By now, you probably know there is no one person we can hail as the inventor of this great invention, the internet. A lot of people deserve credit, each for contributing some small part of this enormous invention.

In the Got It? section, deepen your knowledge about the process of developing the internet and find specific resources that tell that story.