alright, having just had an exam in this, let me explain. but first, take a look at this image:
let me start by asking, what is a network? by definition, a network is an interconnection between two or more separate entities, in which a form of communication is established. this can be between two people, between computers or between anything in which information is exchanged. in other words, it's an abstraction.
in our casual definition of a network, we forget that we've had telephones and telegraphs, radio and so on for much longer than computers have existed. but then, how would one otherwise explain that you could telephone or telegraph someone in the old times?
let's look at the OSI model described in the image. these are the different layers that computer use to interact with each other; each layer functions as an additional overhead to the previous (lower). why so much bother? because while a computer might be able to understand binary input, it wouldn't know where to direct it. for instance, what program would use these bits that were just sent?
you have different protocols in different layers, depending on how specific you want your protocols to be. the internet protocol (IP) is the most widely used protocol, and almost all connections go through it. for other protocols, such as HTTP and TCP, they are overheads in the upper layers that are wired through IP.
with the conception of the IP and its predecessors, the internet really began. but what exactly is the internet?
the internet is a network. it's a huge, global network; but a network nonetheless. there's nothing new about it apart from its scale. what it has, has been done before with e.g. telephones. the internet is often mislabeled as the world wide web, which it isn't. the internet just provides us with the connections between a vast number of computers world wide. it doesn't know what we're doing with the information; it only sees that there are bits flowing from some point to another.
you can't put down the invention of the internet to any one person or group of people. networks of computers happened many places at the same time. it was only logic that they would expand over greater distances. like, how a village would grow into a town, then into a city.
the last question still remains: what is then, the world wide web?
the world wide web (www) is wrongly being accused of being the internet, when in fact the www is a general overhead on top of the internet that allows us to access data more casually. the www is the escapist site, or anywhere the HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP or similar protocol will take you. what you read here, your email, your blog, your posts, your life and so on.
the world wide web was invented by tim berners-lee, along with his CERN posse of students. but he only created the HTTP overhead in which it was possible for a browser to access a site. you can credit him for being able to have a forum and a discussion here today, and you can read more here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http target="blank_].
my point here was to show that the internet is just a vast network of computers. the internet as it is today, however, would be nothing if tim berners-lee hadn't created the HTTP protocol which spearheaded internet popularity to what it is today. chances are that without him, the internet would still be restricted to scientists and governments, without allowing casual access through web browsers to the average joe.