Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee is a British computer scientist. In March 1989, while working at CERN, he circulated Information Management: A Proposal, describing a hypertext system for sharing documents over the Internet. By the end of 1990 he had written the first web server, the first browser and editor (WorldWideWeb), and the initial versions of HTTP, HTML, and the URL scheme.

An open web

CERN released the underlying code into the public domain in April 1993, a decision that allowed the web to spread without licensing barriers. In 1994 Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT to develop open standards for the web.

Recognition and later work

He was knighted in 2004 and received the ACM Turing Award in 2016. He co-founded the World Wide Web Foundation in 2009 and, through the Solid project, has advocated for users controlling their own data.

Timeline

• 1955-06-08Born in London.
• 1989-03Circulates 'Information Management: A Proposal' at CERN.
• 1990-12First web server and browser run at CERN.
• 1993-04-30CERN places the web software in the public domain.
• 1994-10Founds the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
• 2016Receives the ACM Turing Award.