Invisible Innovations: How Leonard Kleinrock and his Team Changed the World without the World Even Noticing

How Leonard Kleinrock and his Team Changed the World without the World Even Noticing

INVISIBLE INNOVATIONS

Head of U.S. Offi ce of Scientifi c

Research and Development

Vannevar Bush writes

his paradigm-

altering essay “As We May Think,” encouraging scientists, who had

spent much of the

wartime working on

weaponry, to work in new directions.

1945

1934: Leonard Kleinrock is born in New York City on the 13 t h of June.

1945: World War I I ends, and Vannevar Bush writes “As We May Think.”

1947: The Cold War begins.

1955: Vietnam War begins.

1957: Kleinrock receives his Bachelor of Electr ical Engineering from The City College of New York and is accepted on scholarship to MIT after 5 ½ years of intense work and schooling. Sputnik is launched.

1958: The U.S. government creates the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency in response to Sputnik.

CHRONOLOGY

1963: Kleinrock receives his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is hired as a faculty member at UCLA.

1965: Watt’s Riots shake Los Angeles; UCLA begins push to be more inclusive.

1967: Larry Roberts publishes plan for ARPAnet.

1969: BBN Technologies begins work in April on the original Interface Message Processors (IMPs).

1969: On September 2, the UCLA IMP is connected to another primitive computer, and the two computers share data.

CHRONOLOGY

First successful message is sent

between IMPs at

UCLA and Stanford.

October 29,

1969

1969: Connection between nodes at UCLA, UCSB, SRI, and the University of Utah is established in December.

1970: ARPAnet reaches the East Coast in March when BBN installs a node at their offi ce.

1975: The ARPAnet is declared operational with over 60 nodes. The Vietnam War ends. mid-1980s: Modern Internet is developed. First newspaper coverage of ARPAnet.

1990: The ARPAnet is offi cially decommissioned.

1991: The Cold War ends.

CHRONOLOGY

1. Though the ARPAnet pro ject had po l i t ica l impl icat ions and government funding, what was the personal mot ivat ion of the researchers (and specifi ca l ly K le inrock) that bui l t i t? Was their interest in the pro ject at a l l po l i t ica l ly mot ivated? Was i t ideal ist ic? What were the condit ions that made 1969 the ideal year to begin work on such a system as the ARPAnet? What d id the researchers not invo lved in the pro ject but interested in i ts impl icat ions th ink about i t? 2. How was the pro ject (and especia l ly UCLA’s part ic ipat ion) ta lked about in the newspapers and newscasts of the day? Were there any protests against i t or any conspirac ies/rumors surrounding i t? Did the people in Los Angeles even know about the important pro ject happening in their co l lect ive backyard? Did any major event happen in LA that infl uenced work on the ARPAnet?  3. What was the ro le of students in the ARPAnet pro ject on the UCLA campus? Were there student interest c lubs about the ARPAnet or other pre- Internet networks? Were c lasses off ered to UCLA students that gave them exper ience in operat ing on the ARPAnet system (specifi ca l ly c lasses off ered by K le inrock)? 4. What was the invo lvement of minor i ty researchers in the ARPAnet pro ject? What d id they contr ibute and what was their interest in the pro ject? Was the pro ject at a l l exc lus ionary of minor i t ies? Did K le inrock’s Jewish her i tage have any eff ect on h is interest in the pro ject? 

5. Did anyone (especia l ly K le inrock) predict the eff ect th is pro ject would have on the wor ld? I f so , who—what was their background and how did they know? What parts o f their predict ions came true? What parts d id not?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

HOW DID THIS…

…AND THIS…

…MAKE THIS?

Secondary Sources: Internet Histories, websites dedicated to web history, commemorative newspaper articles, Kleinrock’s personal webpage.

Archival Materials: University Archives (subject fi les), digitized paper collections (for BBN and Kleinrock), old yearbooks, and old course guides.

Oral Histories/Recorded Public Appearances

Personal Interview

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Dr. Leonard Kleinrock

“Harper had this wonderful philosophy, a philosophy that has been lost today. Their philosophy was, “If I’m the good person,

you don’t make me wait. You say, ‘Here is some money. Do what you want! Go and do something good, maybe a general domain or something. We aren’t going to bother

you, ask for reports, and have site reports. Do what you do best. We are going to give

you a lot of money for a lot of time. It’s okay if you fail. Take high risks. Risks that you couldn’t have attempted otherwise.’”

So this idea of long-range signifi cant funding, without a lot of oversight, with failure being okay, shooting for brilliant

rather than tiny things, was the philosophy that Harper had.”

WHAT WERE THE CONDITIONS THAT MADE 1969 THE IDEAL YEAR TO BEGIN WORK ON SUCH A SYSTEM AS

THE ARPANET?

“…it was a project that was not well publicized.”

DID THE PEOPLE IN LOS ANGELES EVEN KNOW ABOUT THE IMPORTANT PROJECT HAPPENING IN THEIR COLLECTIVE BACKYARD? DID ANY MAJOR EVENT HAPPEN IN LA THAT

INFLUENCED WORK ON THE ARPANET?

“We didn’t really recognize that we were doing something that had the impact that has

happened today. But if you ask anyone, people like myself, you anticipate this really lovely

answer: “Yes, it rolled out just like I expected.” That’s baloney. But there was a press release that came out two months before the switch

arrived at UCLA. There you see characterizations of everything but the social networking side. They didn’t predict people talking by machines. So we did understand something, but that was not big enough to

make a big splash.”

DID ANYONE PREDICT THE EFFECT THIS PROJECT WOULD HAVE ON THE WORLD?

The Cold War era was a time of great change for Los Angeles. People and groups who did not have voices before World War II eff ectively transformed their social conditions and fought for the equal rights and representations of all minorities, racial and otherwise.

There is no direct link between the ARPAnet project and the events in greater Los Angeles……However, there is a thematic link. The thought in the minds of ARPAnet scientists seems to be the same thought behind the Watts riots: progress and forward motion.

Generational concerns define scientific progress even if the links are not always apparent.

CONCLUSION