Tim Berners-Lee (b. 1955)

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Biography

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, HTML, the URL system, and HTTP. He is a professorial research fellow at the University of Oxford and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In Their Own Words (5)

Now, if someone tries to monopolize the Web, for example pushes proprietary variations on network protocols, then that would make me unhappy.

Interview by Kris Herbst for Internet World (June 1994) , 1994

I don't mind there being biased information out there. The important thing is that you should know, when you're on the web, whether you're looking at biased information or not.

“The creator of the Web, TIM BERNERS-LEE” “Fresh Air”, NPR, (Sep 16, 1999) , 1999

Anyone who slaps a ‘this page is best viewed with Browser X’ label on a Web page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web, when you had very little chance of reading a document written on another computer, another word processor, or another network.

Technology Review (July 1996) , 1996

Almost everything which you needed to know in your daily life was written down somewhere. And at the time, in the 1980s, it was almost certainly written down on a computer somewhere. It was very frustrating that people's effort in typing it in was not being used when, in fact, if it could only be tied together and made accessible, everything would be so much easier for everybody.

Tim Berners-Lee], "The creator of the World Wide Web, TIM BERNERS-LEE" "Fresh Air", NPR, (February 7, 1996); as quoted by Julian Ring “30 years ago, one decision altered the course of our connected world”, NPR, (April 30, 2023) , 1996

The Web does not just connect machines, it connects people.

Tim Berners-Lee Speech before Knight Foundation, (14 September 2008) , 2008

Timeline

The story of Tim Berners-Lee, told in moments.

1980 Life

Worked as a contractor at CERN in Geneva and wrote a program called Enquire to organize his notes using hypertext links. It was a personal tool, never published. But the idea stuck with him.

Was Enquire just a personal organizing tool or did you sense something bigger? Did CERN feel like the right laboratory for hypertext? How long did the idea gestate before the 1989 proposal?

1989 Event

Proposed a global hypertext system at CERN. His supervisor called the memo "vague but exciting." By December 1990, he'd built the first web browser, the first web server, and the first website. He was 34.

What did 'vague but exciting' mean to you as feedback? How do you build a browser, a server, and a website in one year? Did 34 feel young or overdue for this invention?

1993 Event

CERN made the World Wide Web software available royalty-free. Berners-Lee could have patented it and become one of the richest people alive. He gave it away because he believed open access mattered more.

Why give it away when you could have been the richest person alive? Was open access a principle or an instinct? Do you ever regret not patenting the web?

2004 Event

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Founded the World Wide Web Foundation to fight for net neutrality and digital rights. Continued to warn about the web's misuse for surveillance and misinformation.

Did the web become what you intended? Is surveillance and misinformation the web's failure or humanity's? Can digital rights be saved at this point?