[ih] First ARPANET Link Put Into Service: November 21, 1969

[Barbara Denny]

 Here is Don Nielson's response to my inquiry.  I did cut out the first paragraph as it only was for me. There is a typo regarding the 1972 ICC meeting. 
barbara
   ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Don Nielson <nielsonz at pacbell.net>To: Barbara Denny <b_a_denny at yahoo.com>Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 at 10:05:40 PM PSTSubject: Re: Fw: [ih] First ARPANET Link Put Into Service: November 21, 1969
 "*** paragraph deleted*****
 
 I'm certain about the following:
 
 1.  First ARPANET connection - Between Bill Duvall at SRI and Charlie Kline of UCLA
     on what has been accepted as 29 Oct 1969.  I tried my best to confirm the date 
     while this date was being pushed by Len Kleinrock of UCLA. Even I and Marc Weber
     the CHM dug into Engelbart's dinky handwritten notebooks and other stuff on file at 
     Stanford. As far as we could tell, nothing was noted on the SRI end, indicating no big 
     deal at the time.  So, what has come to be accepted derives from a brief jot on Charlie's
     scratchpad:  "22:30  Talked to SRI Host to Host". Charlie and Bill are still around
     and have confirmed and elaborated on the incident, being quoted in some places.
 2. ARPANET demo at the International Computer Communication Conference in WDC
     of NCP in Oct 19723.
 3. First 2-net demo of TCP was on 27 Aug 1976.  PRNET and ARPANET.
 4. First 3-net demo of TCP was on 22 Nov 1977.  PRNET, SATNET, and ARPANET.
 
 All this is easily available so 21 Nov 1969 seems an aberration by someone.
 Take good care,  Don
 
 
 On 11/21/25 10:14 AM, Barbara Denny wrote:
  
 
 Hi Don 
  Hope you are doing well.  This came up on the internet history list.  I am wondering if you could shed some insight on the log.  
  Hope you have a good holiday.  
  barbara 
    ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Vint Cerf via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> To: Jack Haverty <jack at 3kitty.org> Cc: "internet-history at elists.isoc.org" <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 at 09:50:33 AM PST Subject: Re: [ih] First ARPANET Link Put Into Service: November 21, 1969 
   crocker and I were wondering the same thing off the list.
 v
 
 
 On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
 internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
 
 > Can anyone explain why the article says "What Happened on November 21st"
 > but the image of the "First ARPANET IMP log" shows "29 OCT"? /Jack
 >
 > On 11/21/25 09:37, vinton cerf via Internet-history wrote:
 > > there are so many milestone dates....
 > >
 > > v
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > > On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 12:03 PM Frantisek Borsik via Internet-history <
 > > internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
 > >
 > >> Happy birthday to the Internet!
 > >>
 > >> https://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/november/21/
 > >>
 > >> All the best,
 > >>
 > >> Frank
 > >>
 > >> Frantisek (Frank) Borsik
 > >>
 > >>
 > >> *In loving memory of Dave Täht: *1965-2025
 > >>
 > >> https://libreqos.io/2025/04/01/in-loving-memory-of-dave/