Arlington's Role in the Birth of the Internet
What started as a secretive military project quickly developed into a world-wide network for communication and sharing information.
The internet, a revolutionary force that has transformed the way we communicate, access information, and conduct business, had a humble beginning rooted in the research and development efforts of the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), located in Arlington, Virginia. The agency was later renamed Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
In the 1960s, during the Cold War era, the United States sought to establish a robust and decentralized communication network that could withstand a nuclear attack. Engineers at DARPA were tasked with developing a system that would allow military and scientific researchers to communicate and share information securely. Their groundbreaking efforts culminated in the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), the precursor to the modern internet.
ARPANET, established in 1969, was the first network to use packet-switching technology, allowing data to be broken into packets and transmitted across multiple nodes before being reassembled at its destination. This innovative approach laid the foundation for the distributed and interconnected nature of the Internet.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), formerly headquartered in Arlington, also played a significant role in internet development. In 1985, it created the NSFNET, a backbone connecting various networks, allowing open access and fostering rapid growth.
Initially, the NSFNET was accessible only to government agencies and universities. But by the mid-90s, with the emergence of the first commercial internet service providers, the NSF removed access restrictions, paving the way for the public use of the internet.
