Founded in 1969 by Jacob Goldman, Xerox’s then chief scientist. As a division of Xerox, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) contributed to the foundation of many modern computing concepts like laser printing, communications, programming, and most significantly, the graphical user interface (GUI). The facility opened in July of 1970…
Short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract. ICANN was created by the late Jon Postel in…
Short for Internet Network Information Center, a registered service mark of the U.S. Department of Commerce and now a defunct entity. InterNIC began as a collaborative project between AT&T and Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) supported by the National Science Foundation. When active, the project offered four services: InterNIC Directory and…
European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research · Combines universities, industry, media, technical, security, and legal experts from civil and military government and law enforcement as well as privacy protection organizations whose objectives are to unite non-commercial efforts against writing and proliferation of malicious code like computer viruses or Trojan Horses,…
In October 1994, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Computer Science [MIT/LCS] in collaboration with CERN, where the Web originated, with support from ARPA and the European Commission. In April 1995, INRIA (Institut National de…
CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world’s largest particle physics centre. Here physicists come to explore what matter is made of and what forces hold it together. CERN exists primarily to provide them with the necessary tools. These are accelerators, which accelerate particles to almost the speed…
Even before SIGGRAPH started, there was computer animation. Despite popular belief, computer animation was not created to do visual effects. The new-comer animators go to the SIGGRAPH conference to see the latest and greatest animations. However, there was a time when going to SIGGRAPH’s Film Show meant you waited with…
From MIT’s History of the Servomechanisms Lab The MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory was established in 1939 under the direction of Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Gordon S. Brown. The laboratory grew out of a special program on servomechanisms and fire control (gun-positioning instruments) established by the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering…
In response to the arrival of the Soviet made satellite Sputnik in orbit, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). They’re given free reign to develop advanced technology with long term potential. Eventually the Internet would form from the ARPANet project. Eisenhower, a progressive president who…
From MIT’s Mission and Origins The Institute admitted its first students in 1865, four years after the approval of its founding charter. The event marked the culmination of an extended effort by William Barton Rogers, a distinguished natural scientist, to establish a new kind of independent educational institution relevant to…