Of course there was no one "inventor" of the Internet, nor a single development that created it, however the original project by DARPA, and the protocols developed by BBN were what morphed into the Internet we all know and Freep by.
Mark
“healing” of network communications
Unfortunately the Internet we have to day is nowhere near the robust and self healing network they envisioned.
Take out a few key nodes and it’s worthless.
I was lucky to work for AT&T beginning in 1965 - and the first 'legs' of the internet as we know it today was in fact built 'gratis' by AT&T between colleges an military installations - and AT&T facilities, on AT&T networks. I got to see some of the very first 'email' transmissions - between AT&T facilities.
The 'backbone' of the internet still rides on (85 percent of) AT&T cable and fiber - and is maintained by AT&T.