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'''Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee''' (born 8 June 1955),<ref name="whoswho" /> 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]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tim Berners-Lee |url=https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/tim.berners-lee/ |access-date=27 May 2020 |website=Department of Computer Science |language=en-US}}</ref> and a professor [[emeritus]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT).<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-10-27-sir-tim-berners-lee-joins-oxfords-department-computer-science |access-date=18 September 2018 |website=ox.ac.uk |date=27 October 2016 |agency=University of Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tim Berners-Lee {{!}} MIT CSAIL |url=https://www.csail.mit.edu/person/tim-berners-lee |access-date=19 September 2021 |website=www.csail.mit.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>
'''Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee''' (born 8 June 1955),<ref name="whoswho">{{Who's Who|title=Berners-Lee, Sir Timothy (John)|id=U12699|author=Anon|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U12699|year=2015|edition=online [[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> 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]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tim Berners-Lee |url=https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/tim.berners-lee/ |access-date=27 May 2020 |website=Department of Computer Science |language=en-US}}</ref> and a professor [[emeritus]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT).<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-10-27-sir-tim-berners-lee-joins-oxfords-department-computer-science |access-date=18 September 2018 |website=ox.ac.uk |date=27 October 2016 |agency=University of Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tim Berners-Lee {{!}} MIT CSAIL |url=https://www.csail.mit.edu/person/tim-berners-lee |access-date=19 September 2021 |website=www.csail.mit.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>


Berners-Lee proposed an information management system on 12 March 1989<ref>{{cite web |last=Foundation |first=Web |date=12 March 2019 |title=30 years on, what's next #ForTheWeb? |url=https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/ |website=World Wide Web Foundation |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=info.cern.ch – Tim Berners-Lee's proposal |url=http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html |access-date=21 December 2011 |website=cern.ch |publisher=Info.cern.ch}}</ref> and implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and [[Server (computing)|server]] via the [[Internet]] in mid-November.<ref>Tim Berners Lee's own reference. The exact date is unknown.</ref><ref name="weavingtheweb">{{cite book | title = Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor | first = Tim | last = Berners-Lee | author2 = Mark Fischetti | location = Britain | publisher=Orion Business | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-7528-2090-3| title-link = Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
Berners-Lee proposed an information management system on 12 March 1989<ref>{{cite web |last=Foundation |first=Web |date=12 March 2019 |title=30 years on, what's next #ForTheWeb? |url=https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/ |website=World Wide Web Foundation |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=info.cern.ch – Tim Berners-Lee's proposal |url=http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html |access-date=21 December 2011 |website=cern.ch |publisher=Info.cern.ch}}</ref> and implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and [[Server (computing)|server]] via the [[Internet]] in mid-November.<ref>Tim Berners Lee's own reference. The exact date is unknown.</ref><ref name="weavingtheweb">{{cite book | title = Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor | first = Tim | last = Berners-Lee | author2 = Mark Fischetti | location = Britain | publisher=Orion Business | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-7528-2090-3| title-link = Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
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   |date=16 July 2004
   |date=16 July 2004
| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3899723.stm
| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3899723.stm
   | access-date=10 November 2015 }}</ref> He received the 2016 [[Turing Award]] "for inventing the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale".<ref name="Asso. Computing Machinery-2016" /> He was named in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's list of the [[Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century|100 Most Important People of the 20th century]] and has received a [[Awards and honours presented to Tim Berners-Lee|number of other accolades]] for his invention.<ref name="Time">{{cite news | title= Tim Berners Lee—Time 100 People of the Century |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990627,00.html
   | access-date=10 November 2015 }}</ref> He received the 2016 [[Turing Award]] "for inventing the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale".<ref name="Asso. Computing Machinery-2016">{{cite web|url=http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/berners-lee_8087960.cfm|title=A. M. Turing Award|date=2016|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|access-date=4 April 2017}}</ref> He was named in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's list of the [[Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century|100 Most Important People of the 20th century]] and has received a [[Awards and honours presented to Tim Berners-Lee|number of other accolades]] for his invention.<ref name="Time">{{cite news | title= Tim Berners Lee—Time 100 People of the Century |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990627,00.html
  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071016213128/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990627,00.html
  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071016213128/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990627,00.html
  |url-status= dead
  |url-status= dead
  |archive-date= 16 October 2007
  |archive-date= 16 October 2007
| work=Time Magazine |first=Joshua |last=Quittner | date=29 March 1999}}</ref>
| work=Time Magazine |first=Joshua |last=Quittner | date=29 March 1999}}</ref>
==Early life==
Berners-Lee was born in [[London]] on 8 June 1955,<ref name="W3Bio">{{cite web |title=Berners-Lee Longer Biography |url=http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html |access-date=18 January 2011 |website=w3.org |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}</ref> the son of mathematicians and computer scientists [[Mary Lee Berners-Lee]] ({{née}} Woods; 1924–2017) and [[Conway Berners-Lee]] (1921–2019). His parents were both from [[Birmingham]] and worked on the [[Ferranti Mark 1]], the first commercially built computer. He has three younger siblings; his brother, [[Mike Berners-Lee|Mike]], is a professor of ecology and [[climate change]] management.
Berners-Lee attended Sheen Mount Primary School, then [[Emanuel School]] (a [[direct grant grammar school]] at the time) from 1969 to 1973.<ref name="whoswho">{{Who's Who | title=Berners-Lee, Sir Timothy (John)  | id = U12699 | author=Anon|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U12699|year = 2015 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref name="tecb" /> A keen [[Trainspotters in the United Kingdom|trainspotter]] as a child, he learnt about electronics from tinkering with a [[model railway]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Edgecliffe-Johnson |first=Andrew |date=7 September 2012 |title=Lunch with the FT: Tim Berners-Lee |url=https://www.ft.com/content/b022ff6c-f673-11e1-9fff-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210211257/https://www.ft.com/content/b022ff6c-f673-11e1-9fff-00144feabdc0#axzz25mg7CPq7 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=11 June 2017 |work=Financial Times }}</ref>
In 1976, Berners-Lee took a [[First-class honours|first]] in [[physics]] from [[The Queen's College, Oxford]].<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="W3Bio" /> While there, he made a computer out of an old television set he had purchased from a repair shop.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/he-caught-us-all-in-the-web/article24836867.ece|title=He caught us all in the Web!|date=1 September 2018|work=The Hindu|access-date=2 September 2018|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>


==Career and research==
==Career and research==
[[File:Tim Berners-Lee.jpg|thumb|left|Berners-Lee, 2005]]
[[File:Tim Berners-Lee.jpg|thumb|left|Berners-Lee, 2005]]


After graduation, Berners-Lee worked as an engineer at the telecommunications company [[Plessey]] in [[Poole]], Dorset.<ref name="W3Bio" /> In 1978, he joined D. G. Nash in [[Ferndown]], Dorset, where he helped create typesetting software for printers.<ref name="W3Bio" />
After graduation, Berners-Lee worked as an engineer at the telecommunications company [[Plessey]] in [[Poole]], Dorset.<ref name="W3Bio">{{cite web|title=Berners-Lee Longer Biography|url=http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html|access-date=18 January 2011|website=w3.org|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}</ref> In 1978, he joined D. G. Nash in [[Ferndown]], Dorset, where he helped create typesetting software for printers.<ref name="W3Bio" />


Berners-Lee worked as an [[independent contractor]] at [[CERN]] from June to December 1980. While in [[Geneva]], he proposed a project based on the concept of [[hypertext]], to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 1989 |title=Berners-Lee's original proposal to CERN |url=http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html |access-date=25 May 2008 |website=w3.org |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}</ref> To demonstrate it, he built a prototype system named [[ENQUIRE]].<ref name="linvinginternet">{{cite web|last=Stewart|first=Bill|title=Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, and the World Wide Web|url=http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_lee.htm|access-date=22 July 2010}}</ref>
Berners-Lee worked as an [[independent contractor]] at [[CERN]] from June to December 1980. While in [[Geneva]], he proposed a project based on the concept of [[hypertext]], to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 1989 |title=Berners-Lee's original proposal to CERN |url=http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html |access-date=25 May 2008 |website=w3.org |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}</ref> To demonstrate it, he built a prototype system named [[ENQUIRE]].<ref name="linvinginternet">{{cite web|last=Stewart|first=Bill|title=Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, and the World Wide Web|url=http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_lee.htm|access-date=22 July 2010}}</ref>
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Berners-Lee wrote his proposal in March 1989 and redistributed it in 1990. It then was accepted by his manager, Mike Sendall, who called his proposals "vague, but exciting".<ref>{{cite web|title=Ten Years Public Domain for the Original Web Software|url=http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Story/WelcomeStory.html|publisher=CERN|access-date=21 July 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116205636/http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Story/WelcomeStory.html|archivedate=16 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Robert Cailliau]] had independently proposed a project to develop a hypertext system at CERN, and joined Berners-Lee as a partner in his efforts to get the web off the ground.<ref name="linvinginternet" /> They used similar ideas to those underlying the [[ENQUIRE]] system to create the [[World Wide Web]], for which Berners-Lee designed and built the first [[web browser]]. His software also functioned as an editor (called [[WorldWideWeb]], running on the [[NeXTSTEP]] operating system), and the first Web server, [[CERN httpd]] (Hypertext Transfer Protocol [[daemon (computer software)|daemon]]).
Berners-Lee wrote his proposal in March 1989 and redistributed it in 1990. It then was accepted by his manager, Mike Sendall, who called his proposals "vague, but exciting".<ref>{{cite web|title=Ten Years Public Domain for the Original Web Software|url=http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Story/WelcomeStory.html|publisher=CERN|access-date=21 July 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116205636/http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Story/WelcomeStory.html|archivedate=16 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Robert Cailliau]] had independently proposed a project to develop a hypertext system at CERN, and joined Berners-Lee as a partner in his efforts to get the web off the ground.<ref name="linvinginternet" /> They used similar ideas to those underlying the [[ENQUIRE]] system to create the [[World Wide Web]], for which Berners-Lee designed and built the first [[web browser]]. His software also functioned as an editor (called [[WorldWideWeb]], running on the [[NeXTSTEP]] operating system), and the first Web server, [[CERN httpd]] (Hypertext Transfer Protocol [[daemon (computer software)|daemon]]).


Berners-Lee published the first website, which described the project itself, on 20 December 1990; it was available to the Internet from the CERN network. The site provided an explanation of what the World Wide Web was, and how people could use a browser and set up a web server and a website.<ref>{{cite web|title=Welcome to info.cern.ch, the website of the world's first-ever web server|publisher=CERN|url=http://info.cern.ch/|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=World Wide Web—Archive of world's first website|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|url=http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=World Wide Web—First mentioned on USENET|date=6 August 1991|url=http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.hypertext/msg/06dad279804cb3ba?dmode=source&hl=en|access-date=25 May 2008|archive-date=12 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512015304/http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.hypertext/msg/06dad279804cb3ba?dmode=source&hl=en|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/> On 6 August 1991, Berners-Lee first posted, on [[Usenet]], a public invitation for collaboration with the WorldWideWeb project.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/blog/2016/08/25-years-ago-the-world-changed-forever |title=25 Years ago the world changed forever |first=Amy |last=Van der Hiel |date=4 August 2016 |website=[[W3C]] |accessdate=5 August 2021}}</ref>
Berners-Lee published the first website, which described the project itself, on 20 December 1990; it was available to the Internet from the CERN network. The site provided an explanation of what the World Wide Web was, and how people could use a browser and set up a web server and a website.<ref>{{cite web|title=Welcome to info.cern.ch, the website of the world's first-ever web server|publisher=CERN|url=http://info.cern.ch/|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=World Wide Web—Archive of world's first website|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|url=http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=World Wide Web—First mentioned on USENET|date=6 August 1991|url=http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.hypertext/msg/06dad279804cb3ba?dmode=source&hl=en|access-date=25 May 2008|archive-date=12 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512015304/http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.hypertext/msg/06dad279804cb3ba?dmode=source&hl=en|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/he-caught-us-all-in-the-web/article24836867.ece|title=He caught us all in the Web!|date=1 September 2018|work=The Hindu|access-date=2 September 2018|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> On 6 August 1991, Berners-Lee first posted, on [[Usenet]], a public invitation for collaboration with the WorldWideWeb project.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/blog/2016/08/25-years-ago-the-world-changed-forever |title=25 Years ago the world changed forever |first=Amy |last=Van der Hiel |date=4 August 2016 |website=[[W3C]] |accessdate=5 August 2021}}</ref>


In a list of 80 cultural moments that shaped the world, chosen by a panel of 25 eminent scientists, academics, writers and world leaders in 2016, the invention of the World Wide Web was ranked number one, with the entry stating: "The fastest growing communications medium of all time, the Internet has changed the shape of modern life forever. We can connect with each other instantly, all over the world."<ref>{{cite web |title= 80 moments that shaped the world |url= https://www.britishcouncil.org/80moments/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C5655166218 |publisher= [[British Council]] |access-date= 13 May 2016 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160630220524/https://www.britishcouncil.org/80moments/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C5655166218 |archive-date= 30 June 2016 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>
In a list of 80 cultural moments that shaped the world, chosen by a panel of 25 eminent scientists, academics, writers and world leaders in 2016, the invention of the World Wide Web was ranked number one, with the entry stating: "The fastest growing communications medium of all time, the Internet has changed the shape of modern life forever. We can connect with each other instantly, all over the world."<ref>{{cite web |title= 80 moments that shaped the world |url= https://www.britishcouncil.org/80moments/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C5655166218 |publisher= [[British Council]] |access-date= 13 May 2016 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160630220524/https://www.britishcouncil.org/80moments/?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C5655166218 |archive-date= 30 June 2016 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>
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Since 2021, Berners-Lee has been an advisory board member of [[Proton Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://proton.me/blog/sir-tim-berners-lee-advisory-board|title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Proton's advisory board|first=Andy|last=Yen |publisher=Proton|date=8 September 2021 }}</ref>
Since 2021, Berners-Lee has been an advisory board member of [[Proton Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://proton.me/blog/sir-tim-berners-lee-advisory-board|title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Proton's advisory board|first=Andy|last=Yen |publisher=Proton|date=8 September 2021 }}</ref>
===Policy work===
[[File:timbernerslee.jpg|thumb|Tim Berners-Lee at the [[Home Office]], London, on 11 March 2010]]
By 2010, he created [[data.gov.uk]] alongside [[Nigel Shadbolt]]. Of the [[Ordnance Survey]] data in April 2010, Berners-Lee said: "The changes signal a wider cultural change in government based on an assumption that information should be in the public domain unless there is a good reason not to—not the other way around." He added: "Greater openness, accountability and transparency in Government will give people greater choice and make it easier for individuals to get more directly involved in issues that matter to them."<ref>{{cite news| title = Ordnance Survey offers free data access |work=BBC News |date= 1 April 2010| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8597779.stm| access-date=3 April 2009 }}</ref>
In November 2009, Berners-Lee launched the [[World Wide Web Foundation]] (WWWF).<ref>[http://www.webfoundation.org/about/faq/ FAQ—World Wide Web Foundation]. Retrieved 18 January 2011.</ref>
[[File:Berners-Lee announcing W3F.jpg|thumb|right|Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the [[World Wide Web Foundation]]]]
Berners-Lee is one of the pioneer voices in favour of [[net neutrality]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7613201.stm|title=Web creator rejects net tracking|publisher=BBC |date= 15 September 2008|access-date=15 September 2008|quote=Warning sounded on web's future.|first=Pallab|last=Ghosh}}</ref> and has expressed the view that [[ISP]]s should supply "connectivity with no strings attached", neither controlling nor monitoring customers' browsing activity without their express consent.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7299875.stm|title=Web creator rejects net tracking|publisher=BBC |date= March 2008|access-date=25 May 2008|quote=Sir Tim rejects net tracking like Phorm.|first=Rory|last=Cellan-Jones}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1581938/Web-inventor%27s-warning-on-spy-software.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522025521/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1581938/Web-inventor%27s-warning-on-spy-software.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 May 2008|title=Web inventor's warning on spy software|work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date= March 2008|access-date=25 May 2008|quote=Sir Tim rejects net tracking like Phorm. | first=Stephen|last=Adams}}</ref> He advocates the idea that net neutrality is a kind of human network right: "Threats to the Internet, such as companies or governments that interfere with or snoop on Internet traffic, compromise basic human network rights."<ref>{{cite web|last=Berners |first=Tim |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web |title=Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality|date= December 2010 |work=Scientific American |access-date=21 December 2011}}</ref> Berners-Lee participated in an open letter to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He and 20 other Internet pioneers urged the FCC to cancel a vote on 14 December 2017 to uphold net neutrality. The letter was addressed to Senator [[Roger Wicker]], Senator [[Brian Schatz]], Representative [[Marsha Blackburn]] and Representative Michael F. Doyle.<ref>[https://venturebeat.com/2017/12/11/vint-cerf-tim-berners-lee-and-19-other-technologists-pen-letter-asking-fcc-to-save-net-neutrality/ "Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee, and 19 other technologists pen letter asking FCC to save net neutrality"]. VB News. Retrieved 14 December 2017</ref>
Berners-Lee was honoured as the "Inventor of the World Wide Web" during the [[2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony]], in which he appeared working with a vintage [[NeXT Computer]].<ref name="Friar" /> He tweeted "This is for everyone"<ref name="OlympicsTweet">{{Cite tweet |number=228960085672599552 |user=timberners_lee |title=This is for everyone #london2012 #oneweb #openingceremony @webfoundation @w3c |first=Tim |last=Berners-Lee |date=28 July 2012 |access-date=26 July 2025}}</ref> which appeared in LED lights attached to the chairs of the audience.<ref name="Friar">{{cite news |title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee stars in Olympics opening ceremony |first=Karen |last=Friar |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/web-inventor-tim-berners-lee-stars-in-olympics-opening-ceremony/ |newspaper=ZDNet |date=28 July 2012 |access-date=28 July 2012}}</ref> In 2025, he released a book on the [[history of the Internet]] by the same name.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dwyer |first=Colin |date=2025-09-09 |title=New books out today: A Dan Brown thriller, John Prine bio, and World Wide Web memoir |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/09/09/nx-s1-5522364/dan-brown-john-prine-tim-berners-lee |access-date=2025-09-09 |work=[[NPR]] |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:This is for Everyone.jpg|thumb|right|Berners-Lee's tweet, "This is for everyone",<ref name="OlympicsTweet" /> at the [[2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony#Frankie and June say...thanks Tim (21:52–22:09)|2012 Summer Olympic Games]] in London]]
Berners-Lee joined the board of advisors of start-up ''[[State (website)|State.com]]'', based in London.<ref name="state">{{cite web
|title      = State.com/about/people
|url        = https://state.com/about/people
|access-date  = 9 September 2013
|url-status    = dead
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192300/https://state.com/about/people
|archive-date = 3 March 2016
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref> As of May 2012, he is president of the [[Open Data Institute]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/government-computing-network/2012/may/23/open-data-institute-plans-published-cabinet-office?newsfeed=true |work=[[The Guardian]] | first=Government | last=Computing | title=Government commits £10m to Open Data Institute | date=23 May 2012}}</ref> which he and Shadbolt co-founded in 2012.
The [[Alliance for Affordable Internet]] (A4AI) was launched in 2013, and Berners-Lee is leading the coalition of public and private organisations that includes [[Google]], [[Facebook]], [[Intel]] and [[Microsoft]]. The A4AI seeks to make Internet access more affordable so that access is broadened in the developing world where, in 2013, only 31% of people were online. Berners-Lee will work with those aiming to decrease Internet access prices so that they fall below the [[Broadband Commission for Digital Development|UN Broadband Commission]]'s worldwide target of 5% of monthly income.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Google lead coalition for cheaper internet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/07/google-berners-lee-alliance-broadband-africa?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2&et_cid=51918&et_rid=7107573&Linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.theguardian.com%2ftechnology%2f2013%2foct%2f07%2fgoogle-berners-lee-alliance-broadband-africa|access-date=8 October 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 October 2013|first=Samuel |last=Gibbs}}</ref>
Berners-Lee holds the founders chair in Computer Science at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he heads the Decentralized Information Group and is leading [[Solid (web decentralization project)|Solid]], a joint project with the [[Qatar Computing Research Institute]] that aims to radically change the way Web applications work, resulting in true data ownership and greater privacy.<ref>Weinberger, David, [http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/ways-to-decentralize-the-web/ "How the father of the World Wide Web plans to reclaim it from Facebook and Google"]. ''Digital Trends'', 10 August 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.</ref> In 2016, he joined the [[Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford|Department of Computer Science]] at [[Oxford University]] as a professorial research fellow<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-10-27-sir-tim-berners-lee-joins-oxfords-department-computer-science# |title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] | location=UK | date=27 October 2016 }}</ref> and as a [[Fellow (college)|fellow]] of [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], one of the Oxford colleges.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/research-and-academia/TBLpress-release | title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science and Christ Church | date=27 October 2016 | publisher=[[Christ Church, Oxford]] | location=UK | access-date=14 November 2016 | archive-date=25 June 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625052303/https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/research-and-academia/TBLpress-release | url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:At the Science Museum for the Web@30 event, March 2019 23.jpg|thumb|Tim Berners-Lee at the [[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]] for the Web@30 event, March 2019]]
From the mid-2010s, Berners-Lee initially remained neutral on the emerging [[Encrypted Media Extensions]] (EME) proposal with its controversial [[digital rights management]] (DRM) implications.<ref name="TheReg-20170306">{{cite news|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/06/berners_lee_web_drm_w3c/|title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee refuses to be King Canute, approves DRM as Web standard|website=The Register|publisher=Situation Publishing|date=6 March 2017|first=Kieren|last=McCarthy|access-date=30 May 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005001244/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/06/berners_lee_web_drm_w3c/|archive-date=5 October 2018}}</ref> In March 2017 he felt he had to take a position, which was to support the EME proposal.<ref name="TheReg-20170306"/> He reasoned EME's virtues whilst noting DRM was inevitable.<ref name="TheReg-20170306"/> As W3C director, he approved the finalised specification in July 2017.<ref name="SDtimes20190707">{{cite magazine|title=DRM concerns arise as W3C's Tim Berners-Lee approves the EME specification |url=https://sdtimes.com/digital-restrictions-management/drm-concerns-arise-as-w3cs-tim-berners-lee-approves-the-eme-specification/ |magazine=SD Times |access-date=12 March 2019|date=7 July 2017|first=Christina|last=Cardoza|publisher=BZ Media LLC|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530183218/https://sdtimes.com/digital-restrictions-management/drm-concerns-arise-as-w3cs-tim-berners-lee-approves-the-eme-specification/|archive-date=30 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="TheReg-20170306"/> His stance was opposed by some, including [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] (EFF), the anti-DRM campaign [[Defective by Design]] and the [[Free Software Foundation]].<ref name="SDtimes20190707"/> Concerns included being not supportive of the Internet's open philosophy against commercial interests and risks of users being forced to use a particular [[web browser]] to view specific DRM content.<ref name="TheReg-20170306"/> The EFF raised a formal appeal. It did not succeed, and the EME specification became a formal W3C recommendation in September 2017.<ref name="TheReg-20170918">{{cite news|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/18/w3c_approves_eme/|title=DRM now a formal Web recommendation after protest vote fails|website=The Register|publisher=Situation Publishing|date=18 September 2017|first=Kieren|last=McCarthy|access-date=30 May 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227064708/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/18/w3c_approves_eme/|archive-date=27 February 2019}}</ref>
On 30 September 2018, Berners-Lee announced his [[Open-source model|open-source]] startup [[Solid (web decentralization project)|Inrupt]] to fuel a commercial ecosystem around the [[Solid (web decentralization project)|Solid]] project, which aims to give users more control over their personal data and let them choose where the data goes, who's allowed to see certain elements and which apps are allowed to see that data.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/30/tim-berners-lee-solid-data-control/|title=Tim Berners-Lee project gives you more control over web data|work=Engadget|first=Jon |last=Fingas|date=30 September 2018|access-date=30 September 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90243936/exclusive-tim-berners-lee-tells-us-his-radical-new-plan-to-upend-the-world-wide-web|title=Exclusive: Tim Berners-Lee tells us his radical new plan to upend the World Wide Web=Fast Company|access-date=29 September 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
In November 2019, at the [[Internet Governance Forum]] in Berlin, Berners-Lee and the WWWF launched ''[[Contract for the Web]]'', a campaign initiative to persuade governments, companies and citizens to commit to nine principles to stop "misuse", with the warning that "if we don't act now{{snd}}and act together{{snd}}to prevent the web being misused by those who want to exploit, divide and undermine, we are at risk of squandering [its potential for good]".<ref name="CNA20191125">{{Cite news|last=CNA Staff|date=25 November 2019|title=Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee launches plan to stop Internet abuse|url=https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/web-inventor-tim-berners-lee-launches-plan-stop-internet-abuse-12123526|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191125193812/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/web-inventor-tim-berners-lee-launches-plan-stop-internet-abuse-12123526|archive-date=25 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Awards and honours===
{{Main|List of awards and honours received by Tim Berners-Lee}}
{{Quote box|width=30%|align=right|quote=He wove the World Wide Web and created a mass medium for the 21st century. The World Wide Web is Berners-Lee's alone. He designed it. He loosed it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it open, nonproprietary and free.|source=—Tim Berners-Lee's entry in ''Time'' magazine's list of the [[Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century|100 Most Important People of the 20th century]], March 1999.<ref name="Time"/>}}
Berners-Lee has received many awards and honours. He was [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom|knighted]] by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in the [[2004 New Year Honours]] "for services to the global development of the Internet", and was invested formally on 16 July 2004.<ref name="tecb" /><ref name="knighted" />
On 13 June 2007, he was appointed to the [[Order of Merit]] (OM), an order restricted to 24 living members, plus any honorary members.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=25 May 2008|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6750395.stm|title=Web inventor gets Queen's honour|publisher=BBC |date=13 June 2007}}</ref> Bestowing membership of the Order of Merit is within the personal purview of the Sovereign and does not require recommendation by ministers or the Prime Minister.
He was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 2001|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001]].<ref name=frs>{{cite web|title=Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660–2015|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015185820/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml|archive-date=15 October 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was also elected as a member into the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2004<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Tim+Berners-Lee&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=14 June 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> and the [[National Academy of Engineering]] in 2007.
He has been conferred honorary degrees from a number of universities around the world, including [[University of Manchester|Manchester]] (his parents worked on the [[Manchester Mark 1]] in the 1940s), [[Harvard University|Harvard]] and [[Yale University|Yale]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Scientific pioneers honoured by The University of Manchester |url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=4216 |work=manchester.ac.uk |date=2 December 2008 |access-date=28 May 2016 |archive-date=22 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022073226/http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=4216 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://news.yale.edu/2014/05/19/yale-awards-12-honorary-degrees-2014-graduation "Yale awards 12 honorary degrees at 2014 graduation"]. ''Yale News'', 19 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2016.</ref><ref>[http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/05/harvard-to-award-nine-honorary-degrees/#berners-lee "Harvard awards 9 honorary degrees"], ''Harvard Gazette'', 26 May 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2016.</ref>
In 2012, Berners-Lee was among the [[Culture of the United Kingdom|British cultural icons]] selected by artist [[Peter Blake (artist)|Sir Peter Blake]] to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires to mark his 80th birthday.<ref>{{cite news|title=New faces on Sgt Pepper album cover for artist Peter Blake's 80th birthday|first=Caroline |last=Davies|url= https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/apr/02/peter-blake-sgt-pepper-cover-revisited|work=The Guardian|date=5 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Sir Peter Blake's new Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album cover|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-17583026|work=BBC|date=2 April 2012|access-date=9 November 2016}}</ref>
In 2013, he was awarded the inaugural [[Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://webfoundation.org/2013/03/sir-tim-berners-lee-receives-inaugural-queen-elizabeth-prize-for-engineering/|title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee Receives Inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, 2013|date=18 March 2013|publisher=Web foundation.org}}</ref> On 4 April 2017, he received the 2016 [[Association for Computing Machinery]]'s [[Turing Award]] for his invention of the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and their fundamental protocols and algorithms.<ref name="Asso. Computing Machinery-2016">{{cite web|url=http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/berners-lee_8087960.cfm|title=A. M. Turing Award|date=2016|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|access-date=4 April 2017}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Berners-Lee has said "I like to keep work and personal life separate."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Frequently asked questions by the Press – Tim BL|url=https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html#tell|access-date=10 September 2020|website=www.w3.org}}</ref>
Berners-Lee has married three times. Following final exams in Oxford, he married Jane Northcote (daughter of Cambridge biologist [[Don Northcote]]) in 1976. They moved together to Poole to work at [[Plessey]], and then moved in 1980 to work at CERN together for a six-month contract. After their return to Britain, they decided to end their marriage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Tim Berners |title=This is For Everyone |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2025 |isbn=978-1035023684 |pages=28; 40. (Function). Kindle Edition}}</ref>
In 1990, Berners-Lee married Nancy Carlson, an American computer programmer. She was also working in Switzerland at the [[World Health Organization]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Nancy Carlson Is Wed to Timothy Berners-Lee |work=The New York Times |date=15 July 1990 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/15/style/nancy-carlson-is-wed-to-timothy-berners-lee.html |access-date=22 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> They had two children and divorced in 2011. In 2014, he married [[Rosemary Leith]] at the [[Chapel Royal]], [[St. James's Palace]] in London.<ref>[http://webfoundation.org/tim-berners-lee-married-rosemary-leith/ "Ms Rosemary Leith and Sir Tim Berners-Lee are delighted to announce that they celebrated their marriage on 20 June 2014...."] World Wide Web Foundation.</ref> Leith is a Canadian Internet and banking entrepreneur and a founding director of Berners-Lee's [[World Wide Web Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Rosemary Leith |url=https://webfoundation.org/about/board/rosemary-leith/ |website=World Wide Web Foundation |date=25 June 2013 |access-date=23 June 2018 |language=en-us}}</ref> The couple also collaborate on venture capital to support artificial intelligence companies.<ref>{{cite news |title=VC firm Glasswing names Jibo, John Hancock execs to advisory board |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/05/08/vc-firm-glasswing-names-jibo-john-hancock-execs-to.html |access-date=22 June 2018 |work=www.bizjournals.com |date=8 May 2018}}</ref>
Berners-Lee was raised as an [[Anglican]], but he turned away from religion in his youth. After he became a parent, he became a [[Unitarian Universalist]] (UU).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3142618.stm|title=Faces of the week|date=26 September 2003|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> When asked whether he believes in God, he said: "Not in the sense of most people. I'm atheist and Unitarian Universalist."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/mathias-dopfner-tim-berners-lee-world-wide-web-interview-2017-5|title=The inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee on the future of the internet, 'fake news,' and why net neutrality is so important|last=Döpfner|first=Mathias|website=Business Insider|access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref>
The web's [[source code]] was auctioned by [[Sotheby's]] in [[London]] during 23–30 June 2021, as a [[non-fungible token]] (NFT) by Berners-Lee.<ref name="G20210615">{{cite news |title=NFT representing Tim Berners-Lee's source code for the web to go on sale |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jun/15/nft-representing-tim-berners-lee-source-code-world-wide-web-sale-auction |access-date=15 June 2021 |agency=theguardian.com |publisher=theguardian.com |date=15 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=This Changed Everything: Source Code for WWW x Tim Berners-Lee, an NFT |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/this-changed-everything-source-code-for-www-x-tim-berners-lee-an-nft/source-code-for-the-www |website=sothebys.com |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="CNBC20210615">{{cite news |title=The web's source code is being auctioned as an NFT by inventor Tim Berners-Lee |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/15/web-nft-source-code-is-being-auctioned-by-inventor-tim-berners-lee.html |access-date=15 June 2021 |publisher=CNBC |date=15 June 2021}}</ref> It sold for US$5,434,500.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lawler |first1=Richard |title=Sir Tim Berners-Lee's web source code NFT sells for $5.4 million |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/30/22557765/www-nft-tim-berners-lee-sothebys-source-code |access-date=30 June 2021 |work=The Verge |publisher=VOX Media |date=30 June 2021}}</ref> The proceeds would reportedly be used to fund initiatives by Berners-Lee and Leith.<ref name="CNBC20210615"/><ref name="G20210615"/>
In 2025, Berners-Lee published a memoir, ''This is For Everyone'', with [[ghostwriter]] [[Stephen Witt]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Duerden |first1=Nick |title=The inventor of the web remains convinced he made the world a better place |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/inventor-internet-remains-convinced-made-world-better-place-3905720 |access-date=24 October 2025 |work=The i Paper |date=12 September 2025}}</ref> It received mixed reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Book Marks reviews of This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/this-is-for-everyone-the-unfinished-story-of-the-world-wide-web/ |website=Book Marks |access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref> [[Stephen Fry]] recorded the [[audiobook]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Lauren |title=Stephen Fry to voice audiobook of Tim Berners-Lee's memoir |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/stephen-fry-to-voice-audiobook-of-tim-berners-lees-memoir |access-date=24 October 2025 |work=The Bookseller |date=8 August 2025 |language=En}}</ref>
In November 2025, Berners-Lee was the guest on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Desert Island Discs]]''. His chosen luxury to take to the hypothetical island was a [[chromatic harmonica]]<!-- , and his chosen book was '' '' -->.<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Computer Scientist |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002m96c |website=BBC |access-date=16 November 2025}}</ref>
== Views ==
Berners-Lee views [[Wikipedia]] as probably the best single example of what he wanted the [[World Wide Web]] to be. At the end of Chapter 7 of ''This is for Everyone'', he writes: <blockquote>Wikipedia has grown to contain millions of articles on every subject known to our species – an invaluable repository of human knowledge that I consider one of the modern wonders of the world. What made this system work was ''intercreativity'' – a group of people being creative. Wikipedia is probably the best single example of what I wanted the web to be.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Tim Berners |title=This is For Everyone |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2025 |isbn=978-1035023684 |pages=171. (Function). Kindle Edition}}</ref> </blockquote>


== Books ==
== Books ==

Revision as of 10:21, 6 January 2026

Template:Pp-vandalism Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English

Sir
Tim Berners-Lee
OM KBE FRS RDI FRSA DFBCS FREng
Sir Tim Berners Lee arriving at the Guildhall to receive the Honorary Freedom of the City of London
Berners-Lee in 2024
Born
Timothy John Berners-Lee

Template:Birth date and age
London, England
Other namesTemplate:Hlist
EducationQueen's College, Oxford (BA)
Known forInvention of the World Wide Web
Spouses
Jane Northcote
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(m. 1976, divorced)​
Nancy Carlson
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(m. 1990; div. Template:Str ≠ len)​
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(m. 2014)​
Children2 children
3 step-children
ParentsTemplate:Unbulleted list
AwardsTemplate:Ubil
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
InstitutionsTemplate:Hlist
WebsiteTemplate:URL
Signature
File:Tim Berners-Lee signature.svg

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955),[1] 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[2] and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[3][4]

Berners-Lee proposed an information management system on 12 March 1989[5][6] and implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet in mid-November.[7][8][9][10][11] He devised and implemented the first Web browser and Web server and helped foster the Web's subsequent development. He is the founder and emeritus director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the continued development of the Web. He co-founded (with Rosemary Leith) the World Wide Web Foundation. In 2009, he was elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences.[12][13]

Berners-Lee was previously a senior researcher and holder of the 3Com founder's chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).[14] He is a director of the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI)[15] and a member of the advisory board of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.[16][17] In 2011, he was named a member of the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation.[18] He is a founder and president of the Open Data Institute and is an advisor at social network MeWe.[19] In 2004, Berners-Lee was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his pioneering work.[20][21] He received the 2016 Turing Award "for inventing the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale".[22] He was named in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century and has received a number of other accolades for his invention.[23]

Career and research

File:Tim Berners-Lee.jpg
Berners-Lee, 2005

After graduation, Berners-Lee worked as an engineer at the telecommunications company Plessey in Poole, Dorset.[24] In 1978, he joined D. G. Nash in Ferndown, Dorset, where he helped create typesetting software for printers.[24]

Berners-Lee worked as an independent contractor at CERN from June to December 1980. While in Geneva, he proposed a project based on the concept of hypertext, to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers.[25] To demonstrate it, he built a prototype system named ENQUIRE.[26]

After leaving CERN in late 1980, he went to work at John Poole's Image Computer Systems, Ltd, in Bournemouth, Dorset.[27] He ran the company's technical side for three years.[28] The project he worked on was a "real-time remote procedure call" which gave him experience in computer networking.[27] In 1984, he returned to CERN as a fellow.[26]

In 1989, CERN was the largest Internet Node in Europe and Berners-Lee saw an opportunity to join hypertext with the Internet:

Template:Blockquote

Template:Blockquote

File:First Web Server.jpg
This NeXT Computer was used by Berners-Lee at CERN and became the world's first web server.

Berners-Lee wrote his proposal in March 1989 and redistributed it in 1990. It then was accepted by his manager, Mike Sendall, who called his proposals "vague, but exciting".[29] Robert Cailliau had independently proposed a project to develop a hypertext system at CERN, and joined Berners-Lee as a partner in his efforts to get the web off the ground.[26] They used similar ideas to those underlying the ENQUIRE system to create the World Wide Web, for which Berners-Lee designed and built the first web browser. His software also functioned as an editor (called WorldWideWeb, running on the NeXTSTEP operating system), and the first Web server, CERN httpd (Hypertext Transfer Protocol daemon).

Berners-Lee published the first website, which described the project itself, on 20 December 1990; it was available to the Internet from the CERN network. The site provided an explanation of what the World Wide Web was, and how people could use a browser and set up a web server and a website.[30][31][32][33] On 6 August 1991, Berners-Lee first posted, on Usenet, a public invitation for collaboration with the WorldWideWeb project.[34]

In a list of 80 cultural moments that shaped the world, chosen by a panel of 25 eminent scientists, academics, writers and world leaders in 2016, the invention of the World Wide Web was ranked number one, with the entry stating: "The fastest growing communications medium of all time, the Internet has changed the shape of modern life forever. We can connect with each other instantly, all over the world."[35]

In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the W3C at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It comprised various companies willing to create standards and recommendations to improve the quality of the Web. Berners-Lee made his idea available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. The World Wide Web Consortium decided that its standards should be based on royalty-free technology, so that anyone could easily adopt them.[36]

Berners-Lee participated in Curl Corp's attempt to develop and promote the Curl programming language.[37]

In 2001, Berners-Lee became a patron of the East Dorset Heritage Trust, having previously lived in Colehill in Wimborne, East Dorset.[38] In 2004, he accepted a chair in computer science at the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Hampshire, to work on the Semantic Web.[39][40]

In a Times article in October 2009, Berners-Lee admitted that the initial pair of slashes ("//") in a web address were "unnecessary". He told the newspaper that he easily could have designed web addresses without the slashes. "There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he said in his lighthearted apology.[41]

Since 2021, Berners-Lee has been an advisory board member of Proton Foundation.[42]

Books

  • Berners-Lee, Tim; Fischetti, Mark (22 September 1999). Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor (First hardcover ed.). San Francisco: HarperBusiness. ISBN 0062515861. OCLC 41238513.
  • Berners-Lee, Tim (9 September 2025). This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web (First hardcover ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374612467. OCLC 1478325766.

References

  1. ↑ Template:Who's Who
  2. ↑ "Tim Berners-Lee". Department of Computer Science. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science". ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "Tim Berners-Lee | MIT CSAIL". www.csail.mit.edu. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Foundation, Web (12 March 2019). "30 years on, what's next #ForTheWeb?". World Wide Web Foundation.
  6. ↑ "info.cern.ch – Tim Berners-Lee's proposal". cern.ch. Info.cern.ch. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  7. ↑ Tim Berners Lee's own reference. The exact date is unknown.
  8. ↑ Berners-Lee, Tim; Mark Fischetti (1999). Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor. Britain: Orion Business. ISBN 978-0-7528-2090-3.
  9. ↑ "Long Live the Web" (2010). Scientific American 303 (6): 80–85. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1210-80. Template:PMID. w:Bibcode: 2010SciAm.303f..80B. 
  10. ↑ "Web science emerges" (2008). Scientific American 299 (4): 76–81. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1008-76. Template:PMID. w:Bibcode: 2008SciAm.299d..76S. 
  11. ↑ "Computer Science: Enhanced: Creating a Science of the Web" (2006). Science 313 (5788): 769–771. doi:10.1126/science.1126902. Template:PMID. 
  12. ↑ "Timothy Berners-Lee Elected to National Academy of Sciences". Dr. Dobb's Journal. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  13. ↑ Template:Cite press release
  14. ↑ Schorow, Stephanie (5 January 2007). "Draper Prize". mit.edu. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  15. ↑ "People". The Web Science Research Initiative. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  16. ↑ "MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (homepage)". mit.edu. Cci.mit.edu. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  17. ↑ "MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (people)". Cci.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  18. ↑ Bratt, Steve (29 September 2011). "Sir Tim Berners-Lee Named to the Ford Foundation Board". World Wide Foundation. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  19. ↑ Shukman, Harry; Bridge, Mark (8 January 2019). "Sir Tim Berners-Lee's app MeWe is used by neo-Nazis and perverts". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  20. ↑ "Web's inventor gets a knighthood". BBC News. 31 December 2003. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "Creator of the web turns knight". BBC News. 16 July 2004. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "A. M. Turing Award". Association for Computing Machinery. 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  23. ↑ Quittner, Joshua (29 March 1999). "Tim Berners Lee—Time 100 People of the Century". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Berners-Lee Longer Biography". w3.org. World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  25. ↑ "Berners-Lee's original proposal to CERN". w3.org. World Wide Web Consortium. March 1989. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Stewart, Bill. "Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau, and the World Wide Web". Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Berners-Lee, Tim. "Frequently asked questions". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  28. ↑ Grossman, Wendy (15 July 1996). "All you never knew about the Net ...". The Independent.
  29. ↑ "Ten Years Public Domain for the Original Web Software". CERN. Archived from the original on 16 November 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
  30. ↑ "Welcome to info.cern.ch, the website of the world's first-ever web server". CERN. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  31. ↑ "World Wide Web—Archive of world's first website". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  32. ↑ "World Wide Web—First mentioned on USENET". 6 August 1991. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  33. ↑ "He caught us all in the Web!". The Hindu. 1 September 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  34. ↑ Van der Hiel, Amy (4 August 2016). "25 Years ago the world changed forever". W3C. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  35. ↑ "80 moments that shaped the world". British Council. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  36. ↑ "Patent Policy—5 February 2004". World Wide Web Consortium. 5 February 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  37. ↑ "Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee wants 'personal empowerment' for users, through his data startup". The Boston Globe. 29 December 2020.
  38. ↑ Klooster, John W., (2009), Icons of Invention: the makers of the modern world from Gutenberg to Gates, ABC-CLIO, p. 611.
  39. ↑ "The Semantic Web" (2001). Scientific American 2841 (5): 34. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0501-34. w:Bibcode: 2001SciAm.284e..34B. 
  40. ↑ "Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web inventor, to join ECS". World Wide Web Consortium. 2 December 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  41. ↑ "Berners-Lee 'sorry' for slashes". BBC. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  42. ↑ Yen, Andy (8 September 2021). "Sir Tim Berners-Lee joins Proton's advisory board". Proton.

Further reading

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