Robert Metcalfe and the Invention of Ethernet
The ethernet was created by Robert Metcalfe in 1973 after trying to create a way to connect several computers to one printer for the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center. Metcalfe got the idea from ALOHA network at the university of Hawaii which used radio waves instead of telephone
wire to transmit data. Metcalfe decided to use coaxial cables instead of radio waves to limit the transmission interference. Today, ethernet is
the most widely installed LAN protocol.
Sources:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/metcalfe.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa111598.htm
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/05/dayintech_0522
http://classic.the-scientist.com/2010/6/1/30/1/
