The Internet began life in 1969, when scientists working for the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now known as DARPA) connected computer networks at the University of California and the Stanford Research Institute. It was then known as ARPANET. By 1973, there were 40 individual networks connected to ARPANET. The first connection across the Atlantic Ocean also happened in 1973, when University College London was connected. Today, the Internet has reached almost every corner of the globe.