May 1974
Elizabeth Feinler leads the ARPANET NIC
Elizabeth Feinler became principal investigator of the ARPANETAdvanced Research Projects Agency Network — the U.S. research network that pioneered packet switching and became a precursor to the internet. Network Information Center in 1974 — maintaining the hosts file and directory services that preceded DNSDomain Name System — translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses..
What it was for
Feinler's team published the directory of every machine on the early internet — precursor to DNSDomain Name System — translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses. and WHOIS. She had joined Doug Engelbart's group in 1972 and wrote the ARPANETAdvanced Research Projects Agency Network — the U.S. research network that pioneered packet switching and became a precursor to the internet. Resource Handbook for the 1972 ICCC demo before taking over NIC operations.
People
- Elizabeth Feinler — researcher
Why it's here
Feinler operated the human-powered directory of the pre-DNSDomain Name System — translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses. internet.
Why it mattered
She scaled NIC directory services as ARPANETAdvanced Research Projects Agency Network — the U.S. research network that pioneered packet switching and became a precursor to the internet. grew beyond memorized host lists.
What it solved
There was no automated naming when thousands of hosts joined the network.
Media
ImageElizabeth J. FeinlerElizabeth Feinler, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons