29 October – International Internet Day (first ARPANET message, 1969) and World Psoriasis Day ('Look Beyond My Skin')
28 October 2026 · English Important Days
Topics: Important Days · 28 October 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)
News
Two days fall on 29 October: (1) International Internet Day – on the night of 29 Oct 1969, Charley Kline at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) sent the first message over ARPANET to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI); trying to type 'LOGIN', only 'LO' went through before the system crashed. The day marks this event. (2) World Psoriasis Day – led by the International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA); 2026 theme: 'Look Beyond My Skin' – focusing on stigma faced by young people. Nearly one-third of people with psoriasis develop it before age 18.
Key facts
| Internet Day | 29 Oct 1969 – UCLA → SRI, first ARPANET message 'LO' |
| ARPANET | Funded by ARPA (now DARPA) of the US Department of Defense |
| India | Public internet service – VSNL, 15 Aug 1995 |
| Psoriasis Day | 29 Oct – IFPA (founded 1971); 2026 theme: 'Look Beyond My Skin' |
| WHO | Resolution WHA67.9 (2014) recognised psoriasis as a serious non-communicable disease |
Background
- Internet history: ARPANET was one of the first networks to use 'packet switching'. It switched to the TCP/IP protocol of Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn on 1 Jan 1983 – the basis of today's internet. In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web (WWW) at CERN.
- India: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) launched public internet service on 15 Aug 1995. 'BharatNet' (National Optical Fibre Network – NOFN, 2011; renamed 2015) aims at optical-fibre broadband to every gram panchayat. Constitution: telecommunication is in the Union List.
- Science – psoriasis: a chronic, immune-mediated (autoimmune) skin disease; it is not contagious. Skin cells form far faster than normal, causing red, scaly patches. It can come with psoriatic arthritis (joints) and other comorbidities such as heart disease.
- WHO: the 67th World Health Assembly (May 2014), in resolution WHA67.9, recognised psoriasis as a serious non-communicable disease; WHO published its Global Report on Psoriasis in 2016.
Tamil Nadu link: Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation Limited (TANFINET) was set up as the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement BharatNet Phase II in the State under a 'State-led model', aiming at optical-fibre broadband for all 12,524 village panchayats.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine (first ARPANET message); UCLA History; IFPA – WPD 2026 campaign page; PAPAA (IFPA, 1971); Tamil Nadu IT Department – TANFINET page
Join our UPSC classroom or online batch: UPSC coaching in Coimbatore · Fees · Call 99941 46662.
Link to this page from your website / blog (HTML code)
BANK Achievers
-
REVATHI
BANKING BANKING
TNPSC குரூப் 1, 2/2A, 4 – நேரடி வகுப்புகள் · கோவை & மதுரை
2006 முதல் சண்முகம் IAS அகாடமி · Classroom & online coaching in Coimbatore and Madurai
