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National Science Foundation(NSF)
The National Science Foundation had a management responsibility for the Internet for many years when it was known as the NSFNet, including management of the backbone network, and management of Network Solutions. NSF has now passed this responsibility on to the ICANN, but is described here for historical purposes.
After the second world war, US President Harry Truman asked the Scientific Research Board, chaired by President's Assistant John R. Steelman, to prepare a report that came to be called "Science and Public Policy: A Program for the Nation". This report led to the redefinition of the organization and funding of US Government spending on science, and, among other far-reaching effects, led directly to the US Congress establishing the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950. The NSF provided funding for defence research, but also had a mandate to promote science and advance the national welfare, and provided much of the funding and administration of the Internet in the early 1990's.
In 1986, the National Science Foundation established the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) to link six of the nations supercomputer centers. Soon other institutions began to join the network, and the NSFNet became the major catalyst for spread of the Internet among the research and academic community. By 1987 the total traffic on NSFNet began to double every seven months. By 1990 the ARPANET was officially dissolved, and responsibility for the Internet was passed to the NSF, which continued to manage it through the explosive growth period of the 1990's.
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