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 love computers and im using one for this video right now!!!
The internet is amazing because it can do so many things from learning something new to talking to your friends.
this was the best one yet i love science live
It is actually so fascinating to learn how technology works
I love these so much!
That is so interesting
The internet has so much information to share. It’s amazing how it all networks together
love watching science live every week 🩷🩷
I didn’t realize you had such a key role in creating the internet we have today. I hope you’re still inventing!
i love science live so much
The show was great
The power and advances in computer technology and the speed at which it is occurring is almost scary. Where will we be in 20 years?
learned so much from this!
Your invention practically changed the world, heck the future! Your technology is the reason we are able to use screens, computers, and more hand held devices today! I think that it is awesome that you had such perseverance that even when they ridiculed your “ridiculous idea” you stayed strong and did not back down. I am really excited to finished my project! I am currently working on interviewing some people for my experiment, but I think it would really help if the next science live you do is based off filming your project, because I am having some trouble with editing formats. And I think it would be really helpful to not only me, but to other students who need help learning editing platforms.
Tobias got a haircut!! I knew Dr. Billings was amazing, but I had no idea he was such an integral part of so many inventions!! Thank you for all that you do!
Very excited to learn about this topic!
I learned About computers systems.
I love these lives!!!
cant wait to watch this live
science live is the best
It’s really intriguing how many inventions were made for military efforts. The internet came from ARPAnet, GPS was originally made for the US Army, and the technology behind nuclear reactors came from the production of weapons.
*Love this episode!!
The internet helps all of so much in various ways that its weird to think of the times before it was around
Thank you Tobias for teaching us about the interesting properties of crystals!
Hey from south ga. Its so cool how we’ve came so far in technology!!
I think seeing how far computers have come is super interesting. Thanks.
Loved this week’s Science Live! so much fun!!!
It’s interesting how they made the watches work.
This week’s episode was good
The internet has come so far from when it was first created.
The internet is the keystone of today’s society! Amazing to learn a bit more about it!
this is a very cool invention!
There are so many cool things on the internet. Is so cool that you can do anything you think of on there.
cool to know how the internent works!
DR BILLINGS IS SOOO COOL I CANT BELIEVE HOW MUCH I LEARN.!!
I enjoyed the Android ice cream truck that sold computer chip ice cream.
Love to watch
absolutely loved. This lesson was extremely interesting. Love the way Mr. Billings presents all of his amazing lessons.
this lesson was fascinating love all the ways you can do different things also love how Mr. Billings describes and presents everything
oh r 51…
Hello from Illinois. I’m re-commenting, because I don’t think my old comment is submitted.
Thank you, Dr. Billings. This was a very educational and interesting video for us students to learn and have fun. And it’s fascinating how all this started.
My dad tinkers with watchmaking a the watch segment was very interesting.
So cool Dr. Billings helped make the internet.
I like the alien guy!
The internet is older than I thought!
Very interesting video on the internet and how it started.
Dr. Billings pretty much made the modern era it seems.
intresting live dr billings
Love the videos
Hello from Illinois!
I loved todays episode. Cant wait for the next!
The technology of the internet is pretty amazing.
You’ve done so well
Where are the proteges?
Don’t give up the car and jet, Mr.B!
When they were inventing the first clock, how were they able to tell what the time is, and how did they came to the conclusion that there is 24 hours in a day?
It was amazing to see Artemis II launch on April 1st!
I love learning new things from these lives! Ahriana from Kansas
It is kinda crazy how much we rely on Internet especially when hardly anyone had it 35 years ago.
Isn’t every living thing a robot that runs on air, like breathing?
Thank you so much for this!! I hope that everyone had a good Easter if you celebrate it!!
I love this
I love science
I didn’t know he had so many patents.
Imagine how far we will get with technology in many years.
Mr. Billings, I appreciate you and all you do for me to be able to go to your school,
What is your Wi-Fi password?
Thank you for this interesting episode!
This is so cool!!
I am so glad that your favorite invention so far led to the creation of Acellus. I can’t imagine doing school any other way. Thank you.
What originally made you interested in science and inventing life changing items? Is there anything specific that sparked your interest?
The internet is such a big and important thing now!
I love that these videos teach you alot but are also funny and keep you interested.
Another great video!
Thanks for another week of Science Live
The segment about the robots was really cool.
is crazy to me how 20 years ago the Internet was not really thought but it was gonna takeoff but now it is one of the biggest things that we use
I love science
So cool Dr Billings helped invent internet!
The internet is such a cool setup of computers, im glad i was born in the generation who can grow up with it
Science live is the best!!!
Wednesday’s are my favorite days to sit down and watch this!
So many different things you can do with the internet, its insane!!
That is amazing that the robot could work on air and maybe we could use it deep in the ocean.
The part about the Mariott was interesting.
The use of 3D Printing is valuable in many different fields – Ag, Mechanical, Engineering
I’m curious what the pneumatic robot will mean in terms of engineering in the future.
I liked learning about the quartz watches!
Thanks for all the work everyone put in to make this for us.
Joining from SC!!!
Very interesting episode. I liked the part about the Mariott.
I love it 🥰
So awesome..!
Good luck everyone in the science fair!
great video! acellus is so helpful. thank you all!!
great science live as usual!!
Thank you for the live!
The tuning fork had my attention!
Computers are so fascinating!
I like the internet, especially if I need to research a topic that I don’t know much about.
I love science live so much
Science live is amazing!!
I really enjoy watching Science Live!
I love learning about science, it’s one of my favorite parts of school.
the internet has come so far, its amazing what it can do!!
i love acellus science live super educational.
I love how cool the internet is and how everything works on it!
Computers have changed so much – my mother can remember growing up and they were pretty new in the early 1980s.
I love science live so much!!!!!
Hello from joplin mo
Loved hearing about the internet very interesting learned something new this week about the internet
It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come in terms of technology!
Love the live!
Hosting a show on the internet and being able to say that you were behind the technology that made it all possible is such a massive flex.
here and ready to learn
Thanks for this weeks video! That’s so amazing!
the internet is just so awsome on all the things it can do!
I love watching this every week Dr billing you are so awesome
I always like to watch the science live
How did phone line work back in the day?
That was awesome!
What is the invention that made the internet possible?
I love how your willing to sell something with so much meaning behind it to you.
Thank you for the scholarship program!
So happy the internet was made cause I use on a daily basis, and it was made in a really cool way too!
I’m here for science and engineering
love the video
Thanks for another awesome science live!
The robot that relys only on air is amazing how something like that can even run in water. The internet is very interesting and its crazy to see how much its evolved and to think about how much is can be changed in the future.
Hi from VA!
The internet is one of the best inventions, it has allowed us to do so much
I loved the Rolls Royce and I liked the ice cream truck at the end too-
Thank you for my scholarship!
cool how internet was made!
The internet has given so much!
I think all of the science live videos are truly fascinating! Thank you so much for the amazing work!
Cool! I love science lives.
Science live was really cool today
Thanks for getting Dr. John.
The videos are great! Keep up the amazing work!
I liked this live!
isn’t life just the internet now
you are so smart!
Science lives are so fun! And intertaning!
The garlic kid was cool!
Where are the proteges??
R.51 being goofy as always.
Try watching r-51 on the slowest speed setting it is so funny! He sounds like a whale! (:
Another fun live!
so cool!!
This episode was so interesting!
I love how passionate you are!
that was cool.
Gosh that’s so cool. Thank you so much for teaching me that!!
It is amazing to me that you were to only able to envision the idea of networking but invent the system to make it possible! Thank you for all that you have made available to us!
Very interesting history of the creation of the quartz watch and how it works.
We watch you almost every week!
The internet is such an amazing invention!!
So cool!!
I love learning about the internet.
The internet is really interesting to learn about. It is so cool that you made Universal Networking! Thank you for this wonderful episode!
do you think society would be less or more developed without the internet?
I can’t belive that the guy that invented the first hydroden vehicle also invented the internet!
I love science live!
loved the r-51 this episode
Woah!! Thank you.
Amazing episode
Great Science Live!
Very Cool!!
With the 3D printed robot that works runs on air, what do you think the bigger picture of that project is? Also when do you believe they will make a faster and efficient 3D printer?
The internet is so amazing!!!
thankfully they didnt lose it
This is awesome
It was great learning about the early history of the internet
It is so cool to see how inventions have ripple effects that are still impacting and changing our lives today. Thank you for being an inventioneer, Dr. Billings! Do you have of list of books you recommend for expanding your understanding of inventions that have lead to our modern world and why they worked so well?
I love it.
Cool episode love it