In the early 1960s at ARPA, J. C. R. Licklider began nurturing a network of university researchers who shared his vision of a networked world of information. Lick called his IPTO fundees the "Intergalactic Network," a term he may have chosen in a facetious attempt to match the excitement and grandiosity of the space race. The Intergalactic Network referred not just to the people but also his dream of a true intergalactic computer network, which he shared in a series of memoranda. This vision led to the development of the ARPAnet.
Principal investigators of the Intergalactic Network included:
- Marvin Minsky
- John McCarthy
- Doug Engelbart
- Bob Fano
- Wes Clark