J.C.R. LICKLIDER

J.C.R. Licklider may well be one of the most influential people in the history of computer science. As Director of the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), a division of the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Licklider set ARPA's priorities and goals and basically drove ARPA to help develop the concept and practice of networking computers. His vision was of a network that would allow those on geographically separated systems to share data, programs, and research. It was Licklider in 1963-64 who put in place the funding priorities which would lead to the Internet.