The Invention That Made the Internet Possible
In this episode of ScienceLive, he tells the complete story for the first time, in his own words. It starts with a problem. J. Willard Marriott, founder of the Marriott Hotels empire, had 12 of IBM’s largest mainframe computers — the biggest the company made — and they still couldn’t keep up with reservation demand. IBM told him a 13th machine would crash the entire system. He needed a solution that didn’t exist yet. Dr. Billings invented one.
His concept was elegantly simple: instead of every computer trying to talk to every other computer simultaneously, create a dedicated “library” computer — what we now call a server — that any number of users could query independently. The result was a system that could scale to an unlimited number of users without overloading. He called it Universal Networking, patented it as U.S. Patent No. 4,714,989, and proved it worked by installing it at real businesses around the world using the Billings Microcomputer — one of the earliest personal computers ever built.
Today, every website, every app, and every internet transaction runs on this same client-server principle.
This is the story of one of the most important and least-known inventions of the 20th century — told by the man who invented it.

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I loved this lecture so much!
Comment i love this live
Printed robot that’s powered by air? Crazy!
These lives are honestly awesome to watch!
What an amazing stream!
The internet is so cool!
I love the lives!
I loved this live its so cool!
Dr. Billings is so cool. I love science live!!
its always a pleasure watching these
This was really fun! Can’t wait until next time.
What is the intervention of making the Internet?
Thank you for explaining how sharing data works! I can’t wait to learn something new each time I watch these!
Hi Dr. Billings!
This was great!
this live was really fun!
Science live!!!!!!
I love the tiny changes to the intro!! God bless y’all!<3
Imagine if they had a giant tuning fork, it would give people headaches.
Thank you for the scholarship program, I appreciate this opportunity and I find these lives very intriguing and informative!
I love how Dr. Billings talks about technologies! Always interesting!
Insane how much we can do with just a little air!
I am so happy I get to go to school with your program.
how many electric powers can you use on a robot?
Our internet is crazy today! hope this comment takes
I love science lives and I’m so happy and appreciate everything everyone has done to make accuels possible.
Dr. Billings is so cool.
Awsome love the vidoe
I love this program so much! What is your least favorite invention?
what other Non-electric sources of power can we use to power a robot?
Loved this episode!!!
Hi from West Virginia, loved the episode sorry for being late it wouldnt show up.
Loved this!
Hi from West Virginia, I love the episode also sorry for being late it wouldnt show up for me.
i love science live so much!
Thank you for all you do so that all of us can have an opportunity like this!
I like learning about the robot that you didn’t have to do much to it. All you had to do is take it off the 3-D printer and then you add air to it and the stuff inside of it. That was really cool.
these lives are great
I want to do the scince fair
I really liked this science live.
I must say, thank you for the school. I enjoy being homeschooled.
I can’t wait until the next science live episode.
Thank you all for putting in time and effort into making these awesome videos! See you next week!
im thankful for this lesson
Was really interesting learned alot
This is awesome!! Thank you Dr. Billings!
I’m so happy the internet exists! Thank you guys for this lesson 🙂
So thankful for the internet. Thank you
I Love the internet !!!!!!
I really love science live
Thank you for the scholarship program!
the live is so helpful
you did it again Dr billings!
Very interesting this video was very interesting and educational good to know!
I love science live
this episode was so fun!
I enjoyed the part where you talked about the watch and clock
Loved the live! much love from NM!
Thank you Dr billings!!
the build that dr billing did was amazing
you did it again Dr billings!
what are the requirements to enter the science fair
I enjoyed the part where they talked about the watch
Thank you so much!!
awesome science live this week!
I love the science lives every week ! Can’t wait for next week
Thank you for this opportunity it means a lot to all of us!! NEVER STOP!!!
This is so cool!
Could the piezoelectric effect still help us solve problems and invent new things? Maybe different crystals could be used in different ways. It was so interesting to learn about that effect!
How can AI processing computers be made to be not so power and resource intensive?
I learn so much from science live every week.
The science fair sounds awesome!!!
this is some great stuff i never knew much about the internet until this thrilling stuff!
This was a good episode
Thank you Dr Billings
Thank you for all the inventions Dr Billings!
The internet is definitely an incredibly inventive
This episode of Science live is my favorite yet!
Thank you for being so kind. We appreciate and love the Scholarship!
R51 had me falling out of my chair
Will you do a live about come of the newest AI products? I think they are really helpful in todays world like Claude and Gemini.
Great video as always!
This was interesting about the computers!
I had a 3D printer and never thought I could make something so functional like that. Now I want a 3D printer again
good job Dr. Billings you do great
That was so fun to watch * and r-51 was so funny* 😂😂😂🖤❤️🖤❤️🖤
Thank you! 🙂
:0
love it
thankyou for the scholarship!!
this is so interesting
Incredible!
i loved this Science Live episode
Nice one wensday live is the highlight of my day
Thank you for the scholarship, we wouldn’t be able to afford homeschooling without it
Thank you for this online school program, because of this I am able to have a part time job not stress about time
If there is one invention you wished you thought of, what would it be?
Science is super interesting, I think that anyone who puts their mind to it can accomplish great things, especially with the help of great people like the Science L!ve team!!
I never knew the internet could be so much more interesting!
Dr. Billings is so cool I love this live!
I love this school!
Like literally who even made this by the way
I’m really curious to know how many more he can make
Love this school
Dr Billings is awesome
My brother and I both do acellus and appreciate this opportunity because of all you do! We will continue to work hard. Thank you!
This was such an interesting live. I love watching them.
Thank you for the scholarship program!!! Very much appreciated
My younger brother and I really like these videos!!!
the scholarship program is the only reason im able to do this amazing school!
The internet is so cool, we use it so much nowadays, I don’t know what it would be like without it!
What kind of 3d printer 🖨️ is it ?
These are so interesting
It’s crazy how the internet works today it’s evolving rapidly!
I love acellus, I am learning and understanding more than I ever have!
The internet was a turning point for history.
Very cool that Dr. Billings invented Universal Networking. Had no idea that I am in the school of a genius!
Love these! They’re always so interesting!
This weeks video was so interesting!! So excited for next week!
it’s so cool that you developed such a system for the internet!
The story of the quartz watch was very interesting!
The internet is a great tool to have
This episode was amazing, so cool how Dr billings created technology behind the internet. This live was Amazing!!🩷I also got to learn how cool Watches are.⌚️🕰️⌛️⏱️
These lives are always super super intresting please keep it up!!
I liked the ice cream truck invention
I don’t really know what to say, besides I loved it
i really enjoyed seeing what other kids did for their science fair projects
Thankful for being able to homeschool because of the internet.
I love Acellus! My mom always makes me eat garlic when I get sick and it helps me feel better faster!!
Why is science so long
just wanted acellus to know but my birthday in on friday!!>:)
The 3D printed robot is really cool!
So crazy they can move the little robot thing with just air pressure
thank you for being so generous
like him talk about ice cream
These videos are always so interesting.
you know all
I have never seen something like that before that is so cool
WOW! That’s so cool! Thank you for the live!
How many days until their deadline for the watch did the engineers at Seiko have left when they released their product?
Rodger Billings for President!
WOW! That’s so cool!
I’m so glad for these videos and the scholarship program!
I like that cool robot! Thank you!
Thank you for the opportunity for the Roger Billings Scholarship program. I love learning!
interesting science live
R 51 was funny.
I love science! It’s so cool!
I love this video
That is really cool! I love learning about computer systems and how they work. Including the internet systems!
Pretty cool stuff!
Thank you for the scholarship program
Thank you Dr. Billings for all you do! It is greatly appreciated!
I love science! It’s so cool!
I love science live!!!
I never new that Dr Roger billing invented technology behind the internet and I never new that garlic was so cool!!!
amazing work dr billings!
How did they come up with the idea to make a robot without electricity?
I learned a lot in this video. This was so amazing.
this was a great episode!
I always learn something new about the internet!
My mom & dad would so do that to our internet password!
I want to invent things
I’d love to print that robot at home.
This was a great episode!
I love r51!
I don’t know what I would do without the internet.
This was a great episode!
Dr. Billings is so smart to invent things.
Great video, amazing tech
i love this stuff
The air powered robot is really cool!
Such an awesome school!
this is my new favorite live
I love Acellus science lives!!!!!!
Thank you for being one of the core people who helped with the foundation of the internet!
That was awesome!!!!
🎉🎉🎉Acellus🎉🎉🎉
Love this episode!
This is one of the best episodes thus far!
Another amazing and inspiring video from the man himself Dr. Billings!