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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These Science Lives are always the highlight of my day!
This was a great science live
I am currently on a trip. But I am definitely making sure to stay on track. I already watched this a few weeks ago, but couldn’t remember if I wrote a comment. So here I am. I am very glad to see this school progressing.
Science is fun
so cool i love Acellus.
Thanks for another great video!
good episode as always
My favorite ice cream is strawberry!
Same🍓
I love watching these! it makes it so much easier to learn
Amazing science is amazing!
I liked the robot that moved with air!
Thank you for allowing us to get caught up on these! I always find them so interesting!
science live is really amazing.
This was a cool video! Thanks!
That was indeed another episode of Science Live™.
Thank you for the great live!
I LOVED IT
So fun and awesome I Love the video!
I wonder how different the world would be without internet
I love learning different topics every week!
I love r51 he’s so funny
Science is great
so cool
This was definitely one of my favorite videos. I am going to be sure and follow these videos once I graduate. I love that they keep us up to date on things that are going on in the world.
Great episode thank you
Science live videos are my favorite!
This episode was really interesting!
I love science live
learning about the robots is super cool, i want to make my own robot! i like learning about inventions and what to invent stuff to be on mars!
Computers are so cool!
i think it was cool how the crystal vibrated after voltage was at the back of it.
Ethernet is such as interesting topic to talk about!
This was like an episode of “How its made”!!!!!!
Great live
Great live
learning from home and still feeling so involved is an amazing feeling
I love learning about how the internet was created!
Acellus is the best!
these videos help me learn and grow im glad i get to watch them!
i love these videos so much
I love power homeschooling
I love science!
Im glad they made this possible if not I wouldn’t be able to come school!!!!!
Hello from Mississippi! I love these videos crazy how much we use the internet now.
Great information to learn
wow!
That explains a lot, now I truly know the depth behind the internet, technology is truly crazy. W video!!
Thank you, Dr. Billings for your sacrifices!
I didn’t no that garlic can do that!
good day
I love watching Science live great lesson.
Trying to understand a problem you are trying to solve seems to be the most important part of being a good Scientist and inventor. Roger Billings really taught me that in this Science Live episode. It just makes me want to keep learning more from Science Live.
I never knew you could measure voltage from a crystal. It’s incredible that they even came up with that idea and then made the link to vibration. So cool!
I loved watching the air powered Robot! What an amazing invention! Science Live is the best!
Watching all the short videos on the Acellus Science Fair projects really made me want to work hard on this years Science Fair! I am so glad they showed some ideas that other Acellus students are working on.
The internet is so important and useful now and I am so glad I get to watch these videos to help me learn more about it!
this was cool.
It was really interesting learning how the invention of networking made the internet possible!
science live is fun,
Wow so cool!
Acellus makes learning so much easier
This is a good one,
You explained it very well.
I am so ready for summer
It’s so cool how far the internet has progressed and how much it changed our lives!
The air driven catipilar is awesome! Can’t wait to get a 3D printer.
Thank you for the information!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
I liked learning about The Invention That Made the Internet Possible.
Interesting video
Thanks Dr.B!!!
Ohhh cool!
I’m so glad internet came into this world
Its so intriguing to learn about how Dr.Billings invented universal networking and its not talked about enough. It is one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.
r-51 is so funny!
I am so glad that we are able to learn new things through the internet it makes learning so much easier for me
Wow
im a very visaual problem soler so i love accellus
I love these videos!!!
the internet is so cool
I love science
i love the internet
good video
Computers have changed so much
I love science explosions.
Woah this episode was so interesting.
Tuning fork watch idea was very interesting. The internet has come so far it is amazing if you use it for good so much information at your reach.
It’s crazy how Rogers changed the future for all of us!!!!!
Great episode! Science live is super fun to watch.
Wow this is great!
How do I get science credit for watching science live?
To access Science Live, sign in on the home page or open Science Live under ‘Activities’ in your Acellus student account. Not sure if you’re logged in? Go to submit a comment — if your name appears, you’re all set!
Visual learning isn’t absolute favourite so that’s just one of the reasons I love science live!
love acellus makes learing actually fun
Nowadays we use the internet so much so I am glad this happened.
I really like learning about science every week
It was very fascinating learning about Dr. Roger Billings journey.
I had just learned about the brothers.
I’m glad for this episode
I love learning about the different patents!
I loved this live thank you for telling us all about the internet!
I love learning about the different patents!
Great live as always !
Awesome live! Creating the invention that made internet must feel so amazing.
another great science live
Thanks from Montana.
David
So fascinating how much we have evolved everything around us 0o0
The piano note experiment was really interesting!
I love science live!!
I’ve really enjoyed learning about Ethernet these past couple weeks!!
Learning how the internet was made is interesting.
I really liked learning about time, and how the watch works!
This Science Live was so inspiring! Education truly is an amazing gift!
I am enjoying learning with acellus. Thank you
Hi from texas
What does the invention made the internet impossible
That is amazing that Dr. Billings had such a huge part in the creation of the internet!
This was very fun to watch!
The internet is really cool!
It’s crazy how much faster the internet is now than it was before. I learned so much about it this episode!!
When you talked about selling one of your most prized processions to help with tuition, I thought this really spoke to what kind of person you are! Thank you! The internet blows my mind. I have just recently started using AI to create pictures and videos. Honestly, it is almost scary what the internet can do!! Regarding the crystals…. I collect them but had no idea how much they are really used for!!
Thank you, Dr. Billings, for Science Live! I love them so much!
Hello from NJ!
so cool i cant believe how much internet can do
I love watching The Inventioneers most
Ready to start this!
I loved this week’s Science LIVE!!!!!!
I had no idea quartz were used to tell time!
I love learning about the internet!
This live was so cool! I liked listening to this live in the background while I cleaned, it really sets the content in!
Computerers are so cool!!
I was surprised when I heard you invented universal networking, I think that’s really cool! I could only imagine the bragging rights!
So interesting to see how the internet began and how far we have come with technology!! Thank you Dr. Billings.
Thank you again for another cool video!!
Its crazy how many job opportunities came up from the internet from computer workers to social media
I love this video so much!
another great science live
My mom works on servers, she is a systems admin for IBM power systems. Mainframes are not servers, they are high capacity high powered processing ‘units’.
I love these!
Dr. Joseph is funny and the presenters make everything so interesting. I also like listening to Tobias.
This was awesome! I love the science lives.
Another great science live. Can’t wait for next weeks! 🙂
Kenneth from NM here!
Hello from Portland…
so cool, i’m glad I got to learn more about the internet! science live is amazing, thanks DrB! :3
hi from south Carolina
what other Non- electric sources of power can we use to
power a robot?
hi from maine
Hello from Michigan!
The internet is fasinating in different ways
I can’t wait for this week!
So cool due to internet we get to study online and see these videos!
I always enjoy watching science live
The internet is truly amazing how everything is connected! and how much it has advanced over time!
The internet is truly a cool place, one small thing can make a big difference
Science lives are my favorite keep up the good work
Thank you for all these amazing lives
Thank Dr Billings for all of your inventions and for the Acellus program
I really enjoyed this weeks science live
Bulova famous watch brand from NY used a tuning fork to figure out the vibration to move the second hand. 360 times it vibrated in a second.
I love watching science live each week!!
Loved the video! Very entertaining education!
He is so cool 😎😻 and that is so interesting
i liked when they talked about the robot
All of those science fair projects sound incredible! Such amazing ideas!
This. Was. A. Awesome. Episode!
I want to try the robot ice cream!
Its so cool learning about all this!
I liked the 3D printed robot that uses air for movement. Thank you for sharing!
So so fascinating how this all started!
A car so quiet you can’t hear it?… sounds like the opposite of our car’s sound lol also I would love to try that “electronic chip ice cream” r51! (Side note: I think that jet is awesome and I don’t want you to sell it and you deserve to be happy soooo-) 😛
A robot that runs on air seems both better for the environment and better for high-risk scenarios, such as disaster recovery. Robots like that could be used to recognize and lead rescue services to people’s locations in events like tornadoes and hurricanes. Nice video.
hi from Puerto Rico
Could other “small” inventions lead to massive discovery’s in our lifetime? Such as perhaps space travel?
That’s so fascinating I love this episode
I like seeing them solve problems.
Bugs are gross even in a computer.