Melbourne University:
A ‘ping’ originating in Hawaii and bounced across the Pacific to a computer located at the University of Melbourne’s then Department of Computer Science (now Computing and Information Systems). The subject line of what was probably the first email sent via the link was to the point: it simply read ‘Link Up’. The message was sent by Torben Nielsen, who had been funded by NASA to set up internet links with countries throughout the Pacific.
This all happened on the 24th of June, 1989 – now look at us. Torben Nielsen, you madman.