Interface Message Processor
The ARPAnet was the forerunner of today鈥檚 Internet 鈥 and at its heart was a massive, heavily armoured piece of kit that set the stage for how the internet works.
In 1958, ARPA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, was dubbed 鈥渁 dead cat hanging in the fruit closet鈥. All the interesting projects had been transferred to its newer, more fashionable rival, NASA. And yet the dead cat turned out to have an extra life: ARPA commissioned and created a way for any computer in the world to contact any other computer in the world. As Tim Harford explains, the ARPAnet was the forerunner of today鈥檚 Internet 鈥 and the heart of the ARPAnet was a massive, heavily armoured piece of kit that set the stage for how the internet works: The Interface Message Processor, the most important hunk of silicon you鈥檝e never heard of.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
Broadcasts
- Tue 19 Nov 2019 13:45成人快手 Radio 4
- Fri 25 Sep 2020 23:30成人快手 Radio 4
Download this programme
Listen to this series anytime, anywhere. Full series available now.