The internet is widely considered to have officially started on January 1, 1983. This date marks the adoption of the TCP/IP protocol suite by ARPANET, which became the foundational communication protocol for the modern internet. However, the development of the internet began long before this, with key milestones including the early 1960s concept of networking by J.C.R. Licklider, the creation of ARPANET by the U.S. Department of Defense in the late 1960s, and the first message sent over ARPANET on October 29, 1969. The invention of the internet was a collaborative effort by many scientists and engineers over several decades.
