ARPANET

ARPANET was a packet-switching network funded by the U.S. Defense Department that connected research institutions. Its pioneering technologies and protocols helped shape the Internet.

Packet switching: A method of transmitting data by dividing it into packets that travel through a network and are reassembled at their destination. ARPANET used this method instead of reserving a continuous circuit between communicating computers.
Advanced Research Projects Agency: A U.S. Department of Defense agency established in 1958 to pursue advanced research projects. The agency funded and oversaw the research program that created ARPANET.
Internet: A global system of interconnected computer networks that communicate using the Internet protocol suite. ARPANET was an early network whose protocols and interconnection experiments helped establish the Internet.
Circuit switching: A communication method that establishes a dedicated end-to-end path for the duration of a connection. Unlike circuit-switched telephone systems, ARPANET shared network links among packets from different communications.
Interface Message Processor: A specialized packet-switching computer that connected a host computer to ARPANET. These machines routed packets between ARPANET nodes and let different host computers join the network.
J. C. R. Licklider: An American computer scientist and psychologist who promoted interactive computing and networked computers. His vision of interconnected computers helped motivate ARPA's early networking research.
Network Society: A social structure organized around networks enabled by information and communication technologies. The Internet's growth from networks including ARPANET made networked communication central to social organization.
NPL network: A British experimental packet-switched network developed at the National Physical Laboratory in the late 1960s. It developed packet switching independently, showing that ARPANET was not the only early network experiment.
Network Control Protocol: The first host-to-host protocol suite used on ARPANET, enabling communication between connected computers. It provided ARPANET's initial rules for establishing connections and exchanging data.
Lawrence Roberts: An American computer scientist who led ARPA's effort to design and build a packet-switched computer network. He directed the project that turned ARPANET plans into an operating network.

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