Event 3 - Leonard Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site

Event 3 - Leonard Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site

Front door of 3420 Boelter Hall, the location
of the Leonard Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site

On October 29th, 1969, Charley Kline, an engineering graduate student at the time working under the supervision of Prof. Kleinrock, sent the first ever message on ARPANET, a precursor to the Internet and World Wide Web, 350 miles up the coast to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). The message: “Lo”.

Attempting to type the word “login”, Kline had accomplished the incredible feat at 10:30pm right here at UCLA in 3420 Boelter Hall. Today, I visited the very location the message was sent from. The room, previously an undergraduate classroom, is know the location for the  Leonard Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site. The site was reconstructed nearly a decade ago in order to commemorate the so called “Birthplace of the Internet”. In it are the remnants of the old computer room with sixties-era furniture, a Teletype ASR-33 typewriter, a giant hard drive, a Sigma 7 computer, and a replica of the original IMP log containing laboratory notes from the day.

A view inside the heritage site. On the desk is a
replica of the IMP log containing laboratory notes

An interesting note to mention is that the site was not rediscovered by an engineering professor or graduate student, but instead by a History doctoral candidate, Brad Fidler, in 2011. His search for the origins of the Internet started after realizing there was no consensus on who created the technology and where it began. He eventually narrowed the possible location down to a hallway and through historical photos and researchers’ firsthand memories. His ingenuity has now resulted in a heritage site as well as an archive where the original laboratory materials are preserved and accessible to historians.

It’s incredible to see that the behemoth we now call the Internet originated from a small room in the basement of a university building. It was the origin for one of mankind’s most extraordinary engineering triumphs. But I think it’s also important to acknowledge the role played by the historians in rediscovering, archiving and preserving this astounding accomplishment for future generations to both admire and learn from.

Selfie in front of 3420 Boelter Hall - "The Birthplace of the Internet"