The Internet: The Science and Math it Relies On

The Internet: The Science and Math it Relies On

How it Got Here

For a full-fledged expedition into the history of the internet, be sure to check out Shmoop’s course called… History of the Internet. For the gist of things, stay tuned for Your Friendly Neighb...

Scientist Stats

Scientist 1Name: Lawrence RobertsBorn: December 21, 1937Country: United StatesScientific Field(s): Computer ScienceShort Bio: The U.S. Department of Defense contracted the MIT degree-decorated Lawr...

Binary

Computers may seem really smart, but they only work with 1s and 0s. Really. All that high-speed calculation and rapid information processing comes down to the manipulation of two numbers.Each piece...

Queuing

If you went to the midnight premier of How the Shoe Falls: A Documentary at your favorite indie theater, you know what being stuck in a queue for hours—literally hours—feels like. (Was that a m...

Routing Algorithms

Being stuck in traffic is squarely on the list of things that Anna Kendrick would rather do than spend a summer in Ohio…but not by much. Sure, that highway might be the shortest route, but the ho...

Fiber Optic and Copper Cables

The internet might be called a cloud or a web, but it still relies on a physical system. Sure, talking about the cloud with as much reverence as an alien squeaky toy from feels for The Claw, there'...

Radio Waves

Whoever said radio was dead clearly heard nothing about the internet. Wireless internet streams your favorite T-Swift songs for you the same way it does on your favorite alt. pop FM station: throug...