How did the NSF get involved?

In the 1980's the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided funding to build five supercomputer centers throughout the U.S. for use by the scientific research community. To provide researchers with remote access to the supercomputer centers and to give researchers a way to share information, the NSF built a network connecting the centers together in 1986.

This network was the beginning of the NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network). The NSFNET provided a "backbone" network which ultimately grew into the Internet as we know it today.