 Both were a result of
war, namely World War II and the Cold War. In order to keep the
innovator's identity secret at this point, we will refer to him his
first and middle initials -- D.D.The first innovation affected
our transportation system, while the second affected our
communication system. More than 50 years ago, in February of 1955,
D.D. said, "The united forces of our communication and
transportation systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear
-- United States. Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many
separate parts."
When D.D. visited Germany during World War II, he noticed how the
autobahns improved that country's transportation system. He also
felt that an improved highway system was necessary for a strong
national defense.
The result of his work is our nation's interstate highway system.
It began in 1956 when the president signed the Federal Aid Highway
Act. Here are a few little-known facts about our interstate system:
-
The longest
interstate is I-90, which covers 3,081 miles from Boston to
Seattle, while the shortest interstate is I-878 in New York
City. It covers exactly 3,696 feet, which is seven-tenths
of a mile.
-
Only one state has
no interstate highway. That would be Alaska. Hawaii has three
interstate highways, although they are obviously not connected
to other states.
-
When the last stoplight on the
interstate system was removed in the 1980s in Wallace, Idaho,
the locals gave it a proper burial in the local cemetery,
complete with a 21-gun salute.
Out nation's interstate system is called the Eisenhower
Interstate System, named after the visionary who created it --
President Dwight David Eisenhower. He was our 34th president, from
1953 to 1961.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Pretty neat, but the other highway system credited to President
Eisenhower circles the world many times each day. That would be the
information superhighway known as the Internet.
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, the U.S.
government figured that a nuclear attack could wipe out our
intelligence system. To prevent this, the Department of Defense
created ARPA, which stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency. By
1969, computer scientists had begun efforts to connect
supercomputers from four major universities -- UCLA, Stanford, UC-Santa
Barbara and the University of Utah -- that could exchange
information with each other. This computer network became known as
the ARPAnet.
The National Science Foundation linked these supercomputers
together and they eventually replaced the ARPAnet in 1990, becoming
what is now the Internet. It was President Eisenhower who made the
decision to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency, even
though he did not work for the Department of Defense.
Here are a few interesting facts that you might not have known
about the Internet:
-
In 1991, the
inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, chose not to
patent it so that everyone could have access to the Web,
bypassing a fortune in the process. He also knew that the only
way it could reach its full potential was to leave it
unpatented.
-
The early version
of the Internet was designed to allow military installations to
exchange information with each other by computer.
-
Despite the fact that the Web now has
millions of sites, there were only 130 in 1993.
In addition to playing a major role in creating both the
interstate highway and the Internet, President Eisenhower also put
an end to the Korean War.
We managed to make it through a story about the Internet without
cracking a single joke about Al Gore claiming to have invented it.
I guess I'm losing my touch.
[By
PAUL NIEMANN]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2008
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