Whenever we are on the internet and searching for things through our browsers, we don’t really stop to think where all this came from and how it started. But if you’re curious, here’s the story of how the World Wide Web came to be.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was annoyed that he had to go back and forth between co-workers to get files and data from their computers to add them to his. He created a file-sharing application that led to the creation of the World Wide Web in 1989.
Who is Sir Tim Berners-Lee?
Tim Berners-Lee was born in London on June 8, 1955. He is the eldest of four. His parents were computer scientists and were part of the team that worked on the first commercially built computer, the Ferranti Mark 1.
He was very interested in trains during his younger years and even had a model railway in his room.
I made some electronic gadgets to control the trains. Then I ended up getting more interested in electronics than trains. Later on, when I was in college I made a computer out of an old television set.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
He went to the Sheen Mount Primary school. He attended the Queen’s College in Oxford from 1973 to 1976, where he received his first-class bachelor’s degree in physics. While he was in college, he built a computer out of an old TV he purchased from a repair shop. (Source: Web Foundation)
Where Did Sir Tim Berners-Lee Work Over the Years?
After graduating from college, Berners-Lee worked as an engineer at Plessey in Poole. By 1978, he joined D.G. Nash in Ferndown. There he assisted in the creation of the typesetting software used for printers.
Soon after, Berners-Lee worked as an independent contractor for CERN. He proposed a project using the concept of hypertext to facilitate sharing of data and files between systems. He built a prototype and named it ENQUIRE.
In those days, there was different information on different computers, but you had to log on to different computers to get at it. Also, sometimes you had to learn a different program on each computer. Often it was just easier to go and ask people when they were having coffee.
Sir Time Berners-Lee
Berners-Lee left CERN toward the end of 1980. He moved to John Poole’s Image Computer Systems, Ltd. He ran the technical department of the company for three years. During this time, he worked on real-time remote procedure call, which exposed him to computer networking. By 1984, he went back to CERN as a fellow. (Source: Web Foundation)
When Did He Develop the World Wide Web?
While Berners-Lee was in Geneva, he thought of a way to solve the file-sharing problem. At this point, there are already millions of computers that were connected through the internet. He took advantage of this technology.
By 1989, he was able to lay out his vision for what would be today’s World Wide Web. He called it Information Management. It was not initially accepted; his boss at the time said the proposal was rather vague but otherwise exciting.
Had the technology been proprietary, and in my total control, it would probably not have taken off. You can’t propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it.
Sir Time Berners-Lee
In 2009, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Foundation along with Rosemary Leith. The goal of the foundations is to create a safe web that empowers everyone. (Source: Web Foundation)