Not one for subtlety, J.C.R. Licklider proposed the computer network he conceived to be called the Intergalactic Computer Network. His more practical vision for it only involved the globe, but did create the outlines of our modern Internet: anyone, from anywhere (on Earth), being able to access any datum they want. “Lick,” along with his colleagues at ARPA, the government-sponsored Advanced Research Projects Agency would be instrumental in the realization of that dream.

On this day, October 29, in 1969, the first field test went up of a prototype network between computers at University of California, Los Angeles, and the Stanford Research Institute. The word LOGIN was to be transferred; the system crashed after the first letters. Some bugs were worked out and the next attempt worked.

The original architecture of those networks still underlies much of the internet today. Data from machine to machine is broken down into chunks, or “packets,” and sent via different routes to the receiving party, where they are reassembled. The advantage over dedicated connections is no route ever goes unused for long.