The Internet is Over the Hill

The world was forever changed on Oct. 29, 1969. Leonard Kleinrock (pictured), a computer scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, sent the first message across what was then known as Arpanet. The historic event was actually preceded by the first Internet crash. Kleinrock was attempting to send the word "LOGIN" from a host computer at UCLA to another machine at the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. Kleinrock was able to send only the first two letters before the system failed, making "LO" the first message ever sent on what would later become known as the Internet.

"While the initial message was intended to be "LOGIN," the team managed only partial success. "We succeeded in transmitting the 'L' and the 'O' and then the system crashed," Kleinrock said in a UCLA news release marking the occasion. "Hence, the first message on the Internet was 'LO' -- as in 'Lo and behold!' We didn't plan it, but we couldn't have come up with a better message: short and prophetic."

According to his official UCLA biography, Kleinrock was recognized by the Los Angeles Times in 1999 as among the "50 People Who Most Influenced Business This Century." He was also listed as among the most influential living Americans in the December 2006 Atlantic. Kleinrock's work was further recognized when he received the 2007 National Medal of Science, the highest honor for achievement in science bestowed by the president of the United States.