MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

From Smoke Signals to the Internet: The Development of Communications Infrastructures

Randy Katz
EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Thursday, March 26, 1998
3:30 PM (refreshments 3:15)
Edgerton Hall, Room 34-101
LCS Distinguished Lecture

Abstract

It has long been the dream of humankind to be able to communicate any where, any place, and any time. The possession of such an ability, and the timely information it would provide, would ensure the power of kings, nation states, and business cartels. So it is not surprising that communications was among the first examples of state-sponsored research.

In this talk, we will discuss the history and evolution of communications systems and computing devices, from the days of Ancient Greece to the present. We will examine how the inventors of early systems developed features such as secret codes, error correction, and "traffic control," which are common intoday's communications infrastructures. We will also describe thescientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs who made today's trillion dollar information and communications industry possible. Today's convergence of computing and communications is finally allowing us to realize the "information anywhere, any place, anytime" vision.

This talk is based on a semester-long freshman seminar (http://www.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~fox/cs39c/) taught by the speaker to mixed audience of engineering and non-engineering students.

Host: Michael Dertouzos