History of the Internet

On October 15 1957, USSR launched Sputnik One, and then Sputnik Two about a month later. The launch of Sputnik was the main cause for the US president Dwight Eisenhower to start new government agencies devoted to the development of new technologies. Never again did the Americans want to be behind in discovering the latest technologies. Two of the new government agency that were formed at a result of the decision by Eisenhower, where called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA).

In 1958 ARPA opened it doors for the first time with Roy Johnson A the Director, by 1959 there was a staff of seven with a annual budget of 150 million dollars. The original budget was going to be set at 2 billion dollars but NASA was formed and took most of the revenues with them. In 1961 the first scientist, Jack P. Ruina, became the third director of ARPA, this marked an important date in the history of ARPA. Runia raised the annual budget from 150 to 250 million dollars with such project as developing ballistic missiles and performing nuclear testing.

By the Year 1961, The Air force Army was facing major cut backs and found them self stuck with a large Q-32 computer. Runia purchased the Computer from the Air force in order to commence a new program on behavior science that the Department Of Defense(DOD) was funding. Runia was looking for someone to run this new program at ARPA, and in the fall of 1962 he hired Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider a psychoacoustician to take the position. When Licklider found out that there was a computer thrown in he was more than happy to take the job as the first director of what it was soon to be called the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO).

J.C.R Licklider