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Tim Berners-Lee He Invented the Web. Then Gave It Away for Free.
You use his invention every single day. And he gave it away for free.
Tim Berners-Lee grew up in London as the son of two mathematicians who worked on one of the first commercial computers. At Oxford he built his own computer from an old television. At CERN, thousands of scientists kept their information on different computers, so in March 1989 he wrote a proposal for a web of linked documents. His boss scribbled on it: "Vague but exciting." On a black NeXT computer he built the first browser, the first web server and the first web page, with a note on the machine: "This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!"
He could have patented it. Instead, on 30 April 1993, the web was released free for everyone. In 2012 he typed "This is for everyone" at the London Olympics opening ceremony. Today he warns about fake news, privacy and the power of a few giant companies, and he is still trying to fix the web he gave us.
The facts behind this file
What the record shows
- Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, not the internet: the network already existed, and the web runs on top of it.
- His boss Mike Sendall wrote 'Vague but exciting' on the 1989 proposal.
- On 30 April 1993 CERN put the web software in the public domain.
- He was knighted in 2004 and received the Turing Award in 2016.
Main sources
- CERN: the original 1989 proposal and the 1993 public-domain statement
Spotted a mistake or know a better source? Tell us.
Further reading
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Image & film credits
- Tim Berners-Lee 2014: Paul Clarke, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tim Berners-Lee 2023: Dr. Frank Gaeth, CC BY 4.0 · Tim Berners-Lee 2009: Enrique Dans, CC BY 2.0 · The first web server (NeXT): Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 3.0 · NeXT server at CERN 2010: Henry Mühlpfordt, CC BY-SA 3.0 · At the 20th anniversary of the web proposal: Maximilien Brice, CERN, CC BY 4.0 · "Information Management: A Proposal": SimonWaldherr, CC BY-SA 4.0 · London 2012 opening ceremony: Nick Webb, CC BY 2.0 · The Queen's College, Oxford: Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0.
- Other images are public domain; video clips from Pexels. Music and sound made for this video.
