Clinical Geriatrics

August has always been a special month to me (and not just because it contains my birthday). I thought I would share some facts with you about August events, and end with one that forever changed the way people function in their daily lives—a phenomenon that has opened new horizons to the practice of medicine and so much more.

Some key events that occurred in August:

• August 1846: The Smithsonian Institution was founded in Washington, DC

• August 1884: The cornerstone was placed for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor

• August 1909: The first Lincoln Penny was issued

• August 1945: America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima

• August 1959: Hawaii became the 50th state

AND

• August 1969: The Internet was born

The Internet began as a collaboration between four major U.S. universities with the original goal of synergizing research, education, and government operations. It was to provide a communications network linking the country in the event that a military attack destroyed conventional communications systems.

In 1972, electronic mail was introduced by a Cambridge, Massachusetts, computer scientist. In 1976, Jimmy Carter used e-mail for the first time to plan campaign events; Queen Elizabeth sent her first e-mail message, the first head of state to do so.

It was not until 1982, however, that the term internet was used for the first time; cyberspace was coined soon after in 1984. By 1996, 45 million people were using the Internet on a regular basis. In 1997, NASA broadcast images taken by Pathfinder on Mars using the Internet. That same year, the term weblog was coined, only to be changed to blog.

Google opened its first office in California in 1998, and about a decade later, the word google became recognized officially as a verb (“to google”). By 2002, an estimated 544 million were users of the Internet worldwide.

The next time you casually go to your computer to “google” some person, place, or fact, remember the humble origins of this global and amazing tool. The Internet has revolutionized our ability to search for information and avoid the time-consuming trek to the reference library. It has opened new horizons and changed the very way we function in our lives. It enables physicians to receive laboratory and diagnostic data in an easy-to-use format with the stroke of a computer key.

So this month, as we enter the 40th year since the introduction of the Internet, we should take a moment to appreciate its mystery and magic—and celebrate its birthday.