Jarkko Oikarinen

Jarkko Oikarinen, known on IRC as WiZ was the developer of the first Internet chat network, called IRC, short for Internet Relay Chat. He wrote the first server and client in August 1988. It was first written to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser Talk) on a BBS called OuluBox in Finland. Jarkko Oikarinen found inspiration in Bitnet Relay Chat which operated on the Bitnet network.