[ih] Fw: Nit-picking an origin story

[Alexander McKenzie]

When IMP #2 was installed at SRI, Marty Thrope of BBN was on hand at SRI
and Ben Barker of BBN was at the UCLA IMP.  After confirming with each
other (by regular telephone) that both IMPs saw the circuit connecting them
was functional, Ben used the TTY Fake Host at UCLA to send a message to the
TTY Fake Host at SRI.  The message was "HELLO MISAN". [Misan was Marty
Thrope's "handle" at the Harvard radio station, where both Ben and Marty
spnt time as undergraduates.]  It is probably correct to say this was the
first message sent over the ARPAnet; there was test traffic sent between
IMPs at BBN but these tests did not traverse leased circuits. It is most
accurate to say that the "LO" incident described by Len was the first set
of Host messages sent over the ARPAnet, but for the general public Len
reasonably considered the Fake Hosts to be part of the network, not users
of the network, regardless of how the code worked.

Cheers,
Alex

On Sat, Aug 16, 2025 at 2:49 PM Alex McKenzie <amckenzie3 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
> ----- Forwarded Message -----
> *From:* John Day via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org>
> *To:* "dcrocker at bbiw.net" <dcrocker at bbiw.net>
> *Cc:* Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org>; Dave Crocker <
> dhc at dcrocker.net>
> *Sent:* Saturday, August 16, 2025 at 01:16:27 PM EDT
> *Subject:* Re: [ih] Nit-picking an origin story
>
> The NPL network already existed and had for awhile, a couple of years but
> I will have to go look at sources to be exact.
>
> Of course, what this should say is the first messages exchanged on the
> ARPANET.
>
> I am sure BBN tested it before they delivered it, but I don’t remember now
> what Hafner says about that.
>
> Take care,
> John
>
> > On Aug 16, 2025, at 12:41, Dave Crocker via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> >
> > My Facebook feed just delivered a tidbit from UCLA that begins:
> >
> >  "In 1969, UCLA Professor Leonard Kleinrock directed the transmission
> >  of the first message between two networked computers..."
> >
> > I found myself wondering a bit about that characterization:
> >
> > 1. Didn't BBN do some inter-host packet exchanges, when testing the
> >  IMPs, before shipping them to UCLA and SRI?  Wouldn't that have
> >  counted as the actual first?
> > 2. There were other packet research projects, at the time, but I don't
> >  remember the details of timing of other 'WAN' and 'LAN' project.
> >  1969 was early enough that it's entirely possible the others were
> >  later, but I'd be interested in hearing the details.
> >
> > I suspect the refinement of the UCLA statement would be:
> >
> >  "In 1969, UCLA Professor Leonard Kleinrock directed the transmission
> >  of the first message between two networked computers
> >
> > --
> > Dave Crocker
> >
> > Brandenburg InternetWorking
> > bbiw.net
> > bluesky: @dcrocker.bsky.social
> > mast: @dcrocker at mastodon.social
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