The Internet was Born in Wales! Father of the Web is Welsh

It is the opinion of Trevor Harris, a lecturer in the Department of Film and Media at Lampeter University, that the title 'Father of the Internet' should be given to Welsh scientist Donald Davies.

It was back in 1965 that Donald Davies developed 'packet switching' a system that enabled computers to communicate with each other by sending information in small segments which were then reassembled in the right order. Without packet switching, it is unlikely any of us would ever have heard of the likes of Google or Facebook.

Trevor Harris said: “I never met Donald Davies, but for those that knew him, he was thought of as an unassuming man but one who deserves as much as anyone to be thought of as the father of computer communication.

“While working at the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory, Donald’s invention of packet switching made the internet, and ultimately the world wide web, possible.

“In any dispassionate analysis of the development of today’s pervasive personal computer technology and its impact on our lives today then Donald Davies, a humble man from Treorchy in the Welsh mining valleys, is one of the most outstanding figures in that history.”

So there we have it, once again Wales can lay claim to being part of, if not the founder of something we all use and take for granted today.

Other amazing things to come out of Wales (aside from IT Pie) include Artificial Rain, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell, X-Rays, Mail Order Shopping and our favourite...The Equals Sign