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Creativity and Coincidence: CERN, the Web and the Internet

Creativity and Coincidence: CERN, the Web and the Internet. Ben Segal  /  CERN, Geneva b.segal@cern.ch Originally delivered at the: 3rd International Festival of Science, Gothenburg, May 2-9, 1999. Creativity and Coincidence. Speed of Change Computer & Network Standards

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Creativity and Coincidence: CERN, the Web and the Internet

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  1. Creativity and Coincidence:CERN, the Web and the Internet Ben Segal  /  CERN, Geneva b.segal@cern.ch Originally delivered at the: 3rd International Festival of Science, Gothenburg, May 2-9, 1999 Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  2. Creativity and Coincidence • Speed of Change • Computer & Network Standards • Some Prehistory & Coincidences • Some Ancient History • Inside CERN • Some Paradoxes • Some Accidents • Birth of the Web • Recommended Reading Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  3. Speed of Change 3 YEARS = 1 GENERATION... so: • 30 years  ago is PREHISTORIC •  20 years ago is ANCIENT HISTORY •  15 years ago is START OF CIVILIZATION And the process is ACCELERATING: the generation time used to be around 5 years but will soonbe closer to 2 years ! Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  4. Computer Standards 20-30 years ago we had: USER CHAOS and: PROPRIETARY  PARADISE Many Companies (+ own Operating Systems):IBM, DEC, CDC, Cray, HP, GE, DG,Burroughs, Univac, Norsk Data, ICL, Bull, GEC, etc.... Only 15 years ago: The UNIX Operating Systemjust began to appear from the research environment...... and the UNIX vs ProprietaryOperating System battles began. Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  5. Network Standards 20-30 years ago we had: USER CHAOS and: PROPRIETARY  PARADISE Many Network Standards: • Each company had (at least) one ! • CERN had its own ("CERNET"). • ARPANET was very little known. Only 15 years ago: TCP/IP (Internet Protocols)just began to appear from the research environment… ... and the ISO/OSI Protocol Wars began. Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  6. Some Prehistory(& Coincidences) • 1968: "Packet Switching"invented simultaneouslyinthe UK, France and USA. • 1969: "ARPANET" (1st Packet Switched Network)and"UNIX" (first open source Operating System)invented simultaneouslyin the USA...... but did not come togetherfor ten more years ... Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  7. Some Ancient History • 1970: "Email" invented (Ray Tomlinson) ==> LISTS and GROUPS: + with "RFC's" (1969) created the DYNAMIC DESIGN STYLE of the Internet. • 1974: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn:first paper on "TCP/IP". • 1978: UUCP added to UNIX ==> "USENET" worldwide email & news network. • 1979: UNIX and ARPANET combined, leading to rapid spread of UUCP and Internet Protocols on WAN's and LAN's! Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  8. Inside CERN The Political Order: • PHYSICS • ACCELERATORS • THE REST (includes computing) Order in Computing (1985-95): • BIG MAINFRAMES (IBM, etc) • BIG HARDWARE (Tape robots, etc) • THE REST(includes desktop, networking, etc) Order in Networking (1980's): • EXTERNAL (ISO-X.25, DECnet, SNA) •  INTERNAL (CERNET, Ethernet) • TCP/IP: "special" + illegal outside! Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  9. Some Paradoxes • A very hard problem… To connect heterogeneous INFORMATIONon heterogeneous COMPUTERS via heterogeneous NETWORKSall over the world... • ...was solved by a: Small, Non-official, Open approach, by a team with: "No Resources" Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  10. More Paradoxes • CERN created the Web: but from its weakest partand using "underground" resources. • Probably a good thing: Had to be kept Simpleand: Had to use outside resources(so went faster) Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  11. Some Accidents • RPC Project@CERN (from 1984): Tim Berners-Lee ("TBL") learned the toolshe needed to solve a difficult heterogeneous networking problem. • NeXT Project@CERN (from 1987): TBL in 1989 was able to use "NeXT Step" to prototype WWW in just 3 months !(The NeXT was "unauthorized" at CERN...) • Cisco@CERN (from 1987): This "nonstandard" IP router was usedto increase security of a Cray supercomputer.Visiting CERN, D. Karrenberg of EUNetlearned that a Cisco could run IP over X.25This led to the European IP network,which TBL could use at CERN from 1989. Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  12. Birth of the Web • What is WWW?: "HTML": Hypertext Markup Language "HTTP": Hypertext Transport Protocol"URL": Uniform Resource Locator + a Client ("Browser") and a Server.ALL INVENTED AND PROTOTYPEDby Tim Berners-Lee (1989-91). • 1993: Mosaic browser written at NCSA, USA: causes "explosion" on the Internet -but for two years "the Web" is called"Mosaic"! • 1995: Tim B-L leaves CERN:Founds W3C to guide the worldwidedevelopment of Web technologies. Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

  13. Recommended Reading • Published 1999: "WEAVING THE WEB"Tim Berners-Lee.(Orion Business Books)The Past, Present and Future of theWorld Wide Web by its Inventor. • Published 2000: "HOW THE WEB WAS BORN"James Gillies / Robert Cailliau. (Oxford University Press)History of the Internet, History of CERN,and the Politics and the People behind the WWW. Ben M. Segal / CERN: Linkoping University, Sweden. October 24, 2001

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