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Who Invented Packet-Switching?
Saint Aardvark writes "It's how the Internet works, and now who invented packet-switching is under dispute. A posthumous paper by British scientist Dr. Donald Davies disputes the claim by Leonard Kleinrock to have invented the technique, saying Kleinrock never took it beyond the case of a single node. Kleinrock, whose lab was the first node on Arpanet, is willing to concede that Davies invented the term "packet-switching.""
According to Hafner's and Lyon's "Where wizards stay up late" (an interesting read), Paul Baran was the guy who invented packet switching in the ARPANET context (he called packets "message blocks"). But AT&T (the company which eventually had to provide the communication lines) wasn't very happy about this idea, so he stopped working on this issue. About the same time, Davies started his experiments (and so did Kleinrock). Kleinrock might have considered packet switching in his very early theoretical articles on data communication, but it's not that clear that he was the first one to do practical, large-scale experiments (this was Davies, IIRC), or to consider packet switching the ARPANET context (clearly Baran).
These kind of things will be shrouded in the mystery of time forever, i mean come on it was back in 1960 when no-one would think of the importance of the internet.
An example is of Newton and Leibniz who both claim to have discovered differential mathematics. I seem to remember there were vicious arguments between the supporters of both about it, with Newton bribing some college to declare him the inventor. I think now both are credited with its invention (would be happy if there would be anyone to confirm this).
The point is that the only ones who will care are their supporters. I think history will both remember them as instrumental in "packet switching".
When it comes to British inventors/inventions this is all too common occurrence, there is some great innovation in the UK but traditionally they concepts aren't followed through to commercialisation.
It happened to Sir Frank Whittle and the jet engine and consequently the first supersonic fighter, the Bell 1 which was based on the British design after the British Government withdrew funding for the project.
There was also the debacle over public key crypto research at GCHQ.
Donald Davies worked a the National Physical Laboratory in Middlesex, unfortunately the British Govt/Grants agency didn't see the potential of the invention at the time and no funded was given, so he went over to APRA who were throwing money at anything.
Donald died June last year at in Australia, where he went to retire, he didn't get a lot of recognition outside of a few small circles, but he did get quite a few awards from the various computing institutions in the UK, I think he's still relatively unknown in the US, probably because he was too modest, which is why some many scientists can claim to have invented Packet Switching.
Well Donald developed a packet based transmission scheme and implemented it at the NPL so they could make better use of their dedicated BT lines, he termed the invention Packet Switching, it was a practical invention not an abstract paper.
Unfortunately I can't find a link. And I'm not sure I've got the right guy. In any case, I distinctly recall reading about a Newton-era, London-based "natural philosopher" revamping the British mail system to be "packet switched" (obviously they didn't call it that then) because he proved that it was cheaper than the old system.
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Who Invented what. It's an interesting question, but in many cases it is rather moot and impossible to decypher. If 3 people enter a room, and out comes an idea then you can readily ascribe it to the 3 people who entered the room. But can you split hairs to determine who's idea it was? (maybe it wasn't an individuals, maybe it was but hadn't been completely worked out yet, etc..)
If 3 people thousands of miles apart develop the same general idea and implement it, no matter how significantly and only communicate about it afterwards, whos the inventor?
I implemented a line drawing algorithm when I was 14. Having never seen code to draw a line and knowing there had to be a more efficient way than using floats, etc to accomplish it. It worked. A few years later I saw a published article with the same algorithm. It predated me by atleast 15yrs. (Breshnam [sp?])
Does that make mine less significant? To me it is cool. And tells me that Software patents are a really bad idea.
When it comes to computers most of the programming population is on equal footing. When presented with a challenege they often come up with the same solutions. This makes tracking invention of some things quite difficult. (As for packet switching, truth is, it existed before computers. Sometimes refered to as snail-mail...)
As for somebody's remark about someone not publishing much on the subject, so? Doesn't mean he DIDNT invent it. I've strongly influenced software projects I wasn't on. I don't get credit for it, and my boss at the time didn't even know. He seemed suprised I would take some of the credit in a later conversation. (I wasn't bragging at the time, I was explaining why I understood how that project had been implemented.). If the programmer who wrote the application claimed it was her idea I could never win an argument about it. I still know the truth.
Davies did invent packet switching, and Britain would have been well ahead of the US if the R&D had been funded, unfortuantely, Tony Benn MP, at the time the Science Minister refused to fund it, thus allowing thw US to come in and use what had been created in Britain which then went on to be Arpanet and then the Internet. So born in Britain and raised by the Americans. There is an Open University programme (TV that is) that has an interview with Davies as I recall backfrom the 70s I think where he explains packet switching and the series of events that lead to the knucklehead UK politicians cutting the funding.
Any sufficiently advanced man is indistinguishable from God