TOPIC: Computer History - The Birth of the Internet
The Internet was "born" on October 29, 1969. UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock lead a team of engineers in sending the first message from one remote computer to another -- via the ARPANET. The actual message, sent at 10:30pm, from UCLA to the Stanford Research Institute was the text "lo". The intended message was "login". However, the computer crashed right after "l-o" was sent. About an hour later, the team was able to send the entire text.
Check out this link to the record of the first message sent over what would become known as "the Internet". Remember, "the Internet" really became publicly available during Operation Desert Storm -- when the US Armed Services allowed soldiers to communicate (pictures, email, etc) with family members. Prior to that time, the Internet was mostly used by military, business and government entities.