In The Beginning...

Geek History is not meant to be an authoritative source for technology history. It is meant to increase awareness, educate, and entertain.  To put this site in its proper context let me quote Walt Disney, ""I'd rather entertain and hope that people learn, than teach and hope that people are entertained.""

I am fascinated by the origins of things. I am also fascinated by how little the average person knows about history, not just political history, but the history of everyday things.

Given a list of names of some great inventors, how many would even be recognized?

Given a list of common products or services, how many of them can you tell me who invented them?

The question of who invented "whatever" is sometimes difficult to answer.  In the case with common everyday pieces of technology that we take for granted, such as the telephone, and the television, there were two or more individuals working towards an invention at the same time.

An invention involves more than just the conception of a plan, more than mere speculation on paper. This is where many disputes are waged over the answer to the question of Who invented the "whatever."  

Many claims to inventions have been made strictly on the illustration of a theory on paper, but it also involves the building and demonstration of a prototype.  In many cases when the question is answered as to who invented something, it is not the individual was first person to theorize or document a product or process, but it is often based on the the first  person to patent the item and whose company was the first to bring that item to the marketplace.

In the case of the internet, and various internet technologies, they were not conceptualized in a single invention or event, but have evolved over time as the result of many events.

Mass communication involves information distribution in a "one to many" form of communication.

Telecommunication is the transmission of messages, over significant distances, for the purpose of communication.

The internet is a form of mass communication as well as telecommunication.

So let us explore for a bit Telecommunications B.C. (Before Computers).