Many innovators have played a role in making the internet what it is today. Here are 10 people who might not have built the internet, but they helped shape the modern internet experience.
is known as the inventor of the world wide web. He is credited with accomplishing the first successful use of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the basis for data communication on the web.
Andreesen helped create Mosaic, which is largely regarded as the web browser that first helped popularize the web. He later helped develop the Netscape Navigator web browser, which dominated browser market as the web skyrocketed into mainstream use in the 1990s.
Alongside Bob Kahn, Cerf is known as one of the founding fathers of the internet. His work at DARPA helped with the development of TCP/IP technology and he also helped develop MCI mail, one of the first internet-connect email systems. He is also considered instrumental in the founding of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Robert "Bob" Kahn
Like his colleague Vint Cerf, Kahn is considered one of the founding fathers of the internet. He worked alongside Cerf to help develop TCP/IP technology and he later went on to found the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), a non-profit focused on network technologies.
Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Brin and Page started Google as a research project when they were students at Stanford University. Google's search algorithm forever changed the way users look for information online. Today, Google.com is virtually the web's default homepage.
Kimsey was the founder and CEO of the ISP AOL. As the internet grew in popularity in the 1990s, AOL was one of the most popular service providers, one time boasting around 10 million users. AOL helped popularize internet chat, instant messaging, and the customized home page.
Lamarr was an Austrian actress popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. She was also an inventor and, along with George Antheil, developed a technique for frequency hopping that paved the way for the modern wireless internet.
Bezos, chairman and CEO of Amazon, helped drive the growth of e-commerce and internet retail. Amazon helped users to trust the online purchase process and was the foundation of the idea that you can buy anything on the internet.
Tomlinson helped create an email system for use on the ARPANET in the 1970s. He is believed to be the first person to ever use the "@" symbol to separate user from machine in an email address.
Elon Musk (center) was the head of the finance site X.com when it acquired Confinity, a company founded by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, and Ken Howery. After the acquisition the team developed PayPal, which has become one of the most widely-used internet payment services.