Biography
Tim Berners-Lee
- Born
- 8 June 1955
- Nationality
- British
- Known for
- The World Wide Web, HTTP, HTML and the URL
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, the system of linked pages that turned the internet from a specialist network into something billions of people use every day. He did it in 1989, working as a software engineer at CERN, the European physics laboratory, where he wanted an easier way for researchers to share documents held on different computers.
His answer combined three simple ideas into one system: a way to write pages and link them together, called HTML; a way to send those pages between computers, called HTTP; and a way to give every page a unique address, the URL. He also wrote the first web browser and the first web server. By late 1990 the first website was running, and in 1991 the web opened to the world beyond CERN.
The decision that shaped everything came next. Rather than patent the web or charge for it, Berners-Lee persuaded CERN to give the technology away for free, with no royalties. That openness is why the web spread so fast and why no single company owns it. He has spent much of his career since arguing for an open web that stays that way.
Frequently asked
Did Tim Berners-Lee invent the internet?
No. He invented the World Wide Web in 1989, which runs on top of the internet. The internet itself is older, growing from ARPANET in the 1960s and 1970s. The web and the internet are different things.
What did Tim Berners-Lee invent?
He invented the World Wide Web, including its three core technologies: HTML for writing pages, HTTP for sending them, and the URL for addressing them. He also built the first web browser and web server.
Did Tim Berners-Lee make money from the web?
He deliberately did not. He and CERN made the web's technology freely available to everyone with no patent and no royalties, which is a large part of why it spread so quickly.