Invention of the Internet

Hello. My name is Vint Cerf. Long ago, computers were like little islands all by themselves. Imagine your toys could not play together. One toy car was in one room, and another toy train was in another room. They were lonely. They couldn't share stories or play games with each other. I had a big, wonderful idea. I dreamed of building invisible bridges between all the computers. I wanted them to be able to whisper secrets and share pictures and say hello. I wanted all the computers in the whole wide world to become friends. It was a very big dream, but I knew we could make it happen if we tried very hard.

My good friend Bob Kahn and I decided to work on this big dream together. It was like a giant puzzle. How could we make all the different computers understand each other? We decided to invent a special secret language just for them. This language was made of special rules, like a secret handshake. It let the computers send tiny packages of information to one another. We imagined each package was like a little postcard. On each postcard, we wrote where it was going and where it came from. Then we sent them on their way. If a postcard got lost, the computer would just send another one. This way, no message was ever truly lost. We made sure they could all talk and listen very, very carefully, just like good friends do when they share a story.

And guess what happened. It worked. Our little network of talking computers started to grow. First a few computers became friends, then more, and more, and more. Soon, computers all over the world were connected. This big group of friends became what we call the internet today. Now, you can use it to watch cartoons, learn new songs, and talk to your grandma who lives far away. It all started because we wanted to help lonely computers make friends.