Did Al Gore really invent the internet?

Question

I see him posting around here. I just want to know if its true

Answer 1

This was a twisted assumption that a lot of the rightwing jumped on during the 2000 election. If you go back and read the actual interview, that's not what he said.

But irregardless, who cares? hehe

Answer 2

No, and he never claimed to have invented the internet. This rumor keeps going around because no one can be bothered to check the transcript of the CNN interview with Al Gore (Late Edition, 9 March 1999).

Gore *did* sponsor the 1988 National High-Performance Computer Act, which established a national plan to link universities and libraries across a shared network. Gore also sponsored the Information Infrastructure and Technology Act of 1992, which opened the internet for commercial use.

Answer 3

Al Gore did not invent the internet.

"2006-05-08: No one person invented the Internet as we know it today. However, certain major figures contributed major breakthroughs:
Leonard Kleinrock was the first to publish a paper about the idea of packet switching, which is essential to the Internet. He did so in 1961. Packet switching is the idea that packets of data can be "routed" from one place to another based on address information carried in the data, much like the address on a letter. Packet switching replaces the older concept of "circuit switching," in which an actual electrical circuit is established all the way from the source to the destination. Circuit switching was the idea behind traditional telephone exchanges.

Why Packet Switching Matters
The big advantage of packet switching: a physical connection can carry packets for many different purposes at the same time, depending on how heavy the traffic is. This is much more efficient than tying up a physical connection for the entire duration of a phone call. And for services like the World Wide Web, where traffic comes in bursts, it's essential.

What if Google needed a separate modem and phone line to talk to every user, like an old-fashioned BBS (Bulletin Board System)? Handling millions of users would be prohibitively expensive.

With packet switching, packets destined for thousands or millions of users can share a single physical connection to the Internet.

J.C.R. Licklider was the first to describe an Internet-like worldwide network of computers, in 1962. He called it the "Galactic Network."
Larry G. Roberts created the first functioning long-distance computer networks in 1965 and designed the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), the seed from which the modern Internet grew, in 1966.

Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf invented the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) which moves data on the modern Internet, in 1972 and 1973.

Radia Perlman invented the spanning tree algorithm in the 1980s. Her spanning tree algorithm allows efficient bridging between separate networks. Without a good bridging solution, large-scale networks like the Internet would be impractical.

By 1983, TCP was the standard and ARPANET began to resemble the modern Internet in many respects. The ARPANET itself was taken out of commission in 1990. Most restrictions on commercial Internet traffic ended in 1991, with the last limitations removed in 1995.

For a much more complete history, see the web site of the Internet Society.

Note that the Internet and the World Wide Web are not the same thing. See also: who invented the World Wide Web?, What is the difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet? and See also Hobbes' Internet Timeline for another excellent history of the Internet which includes later important events.

NOTE TO STUDENTS: THE INTERNET WAS NOT INVENTED BY ONE PERSON OR GROUP OF PEOPLE. THERE IS NO ONE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBLE. I get a lot of email about this. If I gave you just one name, my answer would be completely wrong. Writing down one name on a test will probably get you a bad grade. If your teacher says that one person invented the Internet, show them this page. And don't forget, the Internet and the World Wide Web are NOT the same thing. See What is the difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet? "

Answer 4

No he did not, but he did say "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." on a CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer.

What he was referring to is that as Vice President, Gore instituted a federal program calling for all schools and libraries to be wired to the Internet. This was a culmination of work that he had started several years before. While serving in the Senate, Gore had introduced legislation which called for the creation of a new federal research center for educational computing to support an "information systems highway."

Answer 5

Despite the derisive references that continue even today, Al Gore did not claim he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way.
If you believe that you'd believe any lie that the neocons want you to; like Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, or Kerry didn't earn his medals in the Vietnam war. How about this whopper; George W Bush is a good moral man who fulfilled his service in the National Guard?

Answer 6

Al Gore couldn't create the internet if he had a time machine and a "creating the internet for dummies" book in his hand. All he can create are fairytales about global warming to get the Bush haters riled up and he can't even do a good job of that!!

Answer 7

Al Gore claims he invented it in 1978 but it was actually invented in the 60's

Queen Elizabeth II did send her 1st E-mail in 1978

Answer 8

First...that's so previous...yet permit me sparkling it up for you besides... Al Gore by no ability mentioned he "invented the internet"....he mentioned.."we've been almost inventing the internet as we went alongside". He did no longer in my opinion invent the internet. Al Gore became heavily in touch interior the earliest ranges of establishing and investment the introduction of the internet. - fact.

Answer 9

It kind of depends on your definition. He didn't "invent" the internet in the sense of actually writing the networking code, etc. However, he was very much involved in promoting the internet long before it became trendy. Way too much hay was made at his expense over the "inventing the internet" thing in 2000. It kind of showed what an ineffective campaign he had that he never defended himself against that attack.

Answer 10

quit being stuipd.

Internet was created in the 60's.

I'd sure like to see the exact quote from Al though....

The quote is: "I created the internet" during an interview. Of course even HE laughs about it now-- clear misspoke and overeached -- you righties ought to know about misspeaking. The prez does it all the time-- uh, when he can actually say a complete sentence.

Strategery, disemble, doctors sharing their love with their patients... too funny. There are WAY more funny stories about Bush's foibles than liber-AL....

Answer 11

Al Gore is a bozo who probably invented stupidity.