3420 Boelter Hall: "The Birthplace of the Internet"
Sponsored by the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center
**This tour requires step climbing and moderate walking. Group will meet at the front of Boelter Hall at 12:45 PM. The tour starts at 1 PM and will last 45 minutes, with an additional 15 minutes for Q&A.
On Oct. 29, 1969, a team of students led by Leonard Kleinrock, distinguished professor of computer science at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, sent the first message over the Arpanet from an ordinary computer lab at UCLA... and the rest was history.
The Internet is a significant part of everyone’s lives, from providing many people with jobs, playing a big role in the way we communicate and to providing us with almost everything we need, including entertainment and shopping. And it all traces its roots back to UCLA.
We welcome you to join us for an in-person tour of 3420 Boelter Hall hosted by Professor Kleinrock himself! This is where the first message was sent over the Arpanet, precursor to today’s internet, to Stanford Research Institute on the evening of Oct. 29, 1969. The message was meant to be “LOGIN.” The researchers managed to type the first two letters before the fledgling system crashed. So, the first message sent over the internet was: “LO,” as in “Lo and behold!” As Dr. Kleinrock said, “We couldn’t have asked for a more succinct, more powerful, and more prophetic message.”
Barely an hour later, the teams tried again—with success. By December 1969, four nodes were permanently installed at UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, University of Utah, and University of California, Santa Barbara. By 1975, there were 57 nodes. By 1981, there were 213. Today, we have more than 50 billion nodes.
The original Interface Message Processor, known as IMP No. 1, the equivalent to today’s router, still proudly stands in 3420 Boelter Hall.
Room 3420 at Boelter Hall is located on the south campus of UCLA.
Click here to see the Campus Parking Map. Parking is available in parking structures 8 or 9 (P8, P9) that has hourly self-pay parking stations. If the information kiosk is open, they will be happy to answer your parking-related questions.
