Yngvar G. Lundh advanced the Internet in Europe by establishing networks between the Norwegian and U.S. defense departments, initiating the first Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) connection outside the U.S., in Norway, and helping secure .no as the first domain outside the U.S.
In the late 1950s, Lundh was already a technology pioneer, founding “Siffergruppen” at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (NDRE) in the developing field of digital computational systems. Under Lundh’s guidance between 1962 and 1964, “Siffergruppen” built two computers: Lydia, a dedicated computer for underwater surveillance, and SAM, the first Norwegian programmable computer.
Building on his understanding of digital computations, Lundh moved on to computer networking, together with Pål Spilling and others establishing a Norwegian ARPANET node, the first outside the U.S. That node was connected to ARPANET through the Atlantic Packet Satellite Network (SATNET) from 1973. This early functional connection between heterogeneous networks led to the successful 1977 experiment in which a message launched in California traveled 88,000 miles through the ARPANET using satellite and radio networks as well as ground stations in Sweden, Norway, England, and West Virginia.
Among Lundh’s other contributions is the work he conducted with Vint Cerf at Stanford University to develop the Internet protocol suite known as TCP/IP. To implement and test TCP/IP, Lundh expanded the European computer network by establishing a ground link from NDRE to University College London.
In 1983, as a professor at Oslo University, Lundh, along with Spilling, brought the Department of Informatics online, making it the first Norwegian research institution on the Internet. Lundh and Spilling continued bringing additional national institutions on the Internet, enabling international research and leading to the creation of the .no domain as the first domain outside the U.S.
