Who created the first public internet?

The first public internet, known as the ARPANET, was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the late 1960s. Key figures in its creation included computer scientist Leonard Kleinrock, who contributed to the theoretical foundations of packet switching, and Robert Taylor, who helped to secure funding and support for the project. The ARPANET became the first operational packet-switching network and laid the groundwork for the modern internet.