Teach Yourself How to Fish

Nudged by the USSR's launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4th 1957, the US created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA now DARPA) in early 1958 to produce advanced technology.
Wiki Link: ARPA

An early ARPA project was the development of ARPANET, a web of interconnected computing devices using a packet switching methodology. Packet switching, unlike a direct communication method, takes the sent message and chops it up into smaller pieces (packets) which are sent thru a mesh-like collection of pathways and nodes. The recipient receives these packets in no particular order, then orders them to reconstitute the original message.
Wiki Link: Packet
Wiki Link: ARPANET

A particular advantage (crucial for government and military use during emergency or war) of using packet-based communications over its predecessor, circuit switching, is that pathways and nodes may be destroyed without cutting communication between the sender and the recipient. If a packet encounters a dead end, it is routed around the roadblock using a different path and still has a good chance of reaching the recipient. Think 2 tin cans connected by 3 strings instead of the traditional 1 string. If a string is cut, the children will still hear each other thru the other 2 strings. Now imagine those 3 strings are a vast mesh of connections...
Wiki Link: Tin Can Telephone
Wiki Link: Mesh Networking

The first ARPANET link was connected in late 1969. It was conceived in its modern sense largely from the mind of J.C. R. Licklider who wrote memos concerning the "intergalactic computer network" in 1962 and championed the ARPANET project. This gives the internet an age of about 38 years with a gestation period of 8 years. Its birthday is November 21st.
Wiki Link: J.C.R. Licklider
Wiki Link: Intergalactic Computer Network
Link: Licklider Memo (humble isn't it?)

Afterthought:



Wikipedia's listing of Al Gore's notable contributions to the internet can be found by clicking on his picture.