# Intergalactic Computer Network

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Computer networking concept

Not to be confused with [Interplanetary Internet](/source/Interplanetary_Internet).

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**Intergalactic Computer Network** or **Galactic Network**[1] (**IGCN**) was a computer networking concept similar to today's [Internet](/source/Internet).

[J.C.R. Licklider](/source/J.C.R._Licklider), the first director of the [Information Processing Techniques Office](/source/Information_Processing_Techniques_Office) (IPTO) at [The Pentagon](/source/The_Pentagon)'s [ARPA](/source/DARPA), used the term in the early 1960s to refer to a networking system he "imagined as an electronic commons open to all, 'the main and essential medium of informational interaction for governments, institutions, corporations, and individuals.'"[2][3] An office memorandum he sent to his colleagues in 1963 was addressed to "Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network".[4] As head of IPTO from 1962 to 1964, "Licklider initiated three of the most important developments in information technology: the creation of [computer science](/source/Computer_science) departments at several major universities, [time-sharing](/source/Time-sharing), and [networking](/source/Computer_network)."[3]

Licklider first learned about time-sharing from [Christopher Strachey](/source/Christopher_Strachey) at the inaugural [UNESCO Information Processing Conference](/source/International_Federation_for_Information_Processing#History) in Paris in 1959.[5]

By the late 1960s, his promotion of the concept had inspired a primitive version of his vision called [ARPANET](/source/ARPANET). ARPANET expanded into a network of networks in the 1970s that became the [Internet](/source/Internet).[2]

## See also

- [History of the Internet](/source/History_of_the_Internet)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Leiner, Barry M.; et al. (2003-12-10). [""Origins of the Internet" in A Brief History of the Internet version 3.32"](http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Origins). The Internet Society. Retrieved 2007-11-03.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Garreau2006_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Garreau2006_2-1) Garreau, Joel (2006). [*Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies--and what it Means to be Human*](https://books.google.com/books?id=YCuOKOD5nY4C&pg=PA22). Broadway. p. 22. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7679-1503-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7679-1503-8).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-britannica_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-britannica_3-1) ["Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (United States Government)"](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/745612/Defense-Advanced-Research-Projects-Agency-DARPA#ref829305). *Encyclopædia Britannica*. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 11 January 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Licklider, J. C. R. (23 April 1963). ["Topics for Discussion at the Forthcoming Meeting, Memorandum For: Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network"](http://www.kurzweilai.net/memorandum-for-members-and-affiliates-of-the-intergalactic-computer-network). Washington, D.C.: Advanced Research Projects Agency, via KurzweilAI.net. Retrieved 2013-01-26.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Gillies, James M.; Gillies, James; Gillies, James and Cailliau Robert; Cailliau, R. (2000). [*How the Web was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web*](https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill). Oxford University Press. pp. [13](https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill/page/13). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-286207-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-286207-5).

## Further reading

- Jones, Steve (2003). [*Encyclopedia of New Media*](https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofne00jone). Sage Publications, via Internet Archive limited preview. p. [287](https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofne00jone/page/287). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7619-2382-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7619-2382-9). Retrieved 2007-11-03.

- Page, Dan and Cynthia Lee (1999). ["Looking Back at Start of a Revolution"](https://web.archive.org/web/20071224090235/http://www.today.ucla.edu/1999/990928looking.html). *UCLA Today*. The Regents of the University of California (UC Regents). Archived from [the original](http://www.today.ucla.edu/1999/990928looking.html) on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2007-11-03.

- Hauben, Ronda (19 March 2001). ["Draft for Comment 1.001, "The Information Processing Techniques Office and the Birth of the Internet""](http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/misc/lick101.doc) (Microsoft Word). Retrieved 2007-11-03.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Intergalactic Computer Network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergalactic_Computer_Network) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergalactic_Computer_Network?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.