Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) form the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) begin exploring and programming the school's PDP-1 mainframe computer system. The group eventually coined the term "hacker" in the context it is known today.

The DoD creates the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANet), which gains popularity in research and academic circles as a conduit for the electronic exchange of data and information. This paves the way for the creation of the carrier network known today as the Internet.

Ken Thompson develops the UNIX operating system, widely hailed as the most "hacker-friendly" OS because of its accessible developer tools and compilers, and its supportive user community. Around the same time, Dennis Ritchie develops the C programming language, arguably the most popular hacking language in computer history.