Vint Cerf gets most of the publicity for inventing the Internet, but the truth is that Cerf is mostly responsible for
the invention of TCP, and the distinction of
transmission control from
packet control --
TCP vs
IP.
The Internet itself really found its genesis in
Larry Roberts and his team, who built the first
routers in conjunction with
BBN as part of a government
ARPA project.
Cerf left ARPA in 1982 to take a job at MCI. He is currently the vice-president of technology at MCI.