360Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web
In March 1989, the British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN in Switzerland, proposed a system for sharing information using linked documents. It became the World Wide Web. The first website went online in 1991, and in 1993 CERN made the technology free for all, letting the web grow to billions of users.
CERN, the European physics laboratory near Geneva, had thousands of scientists using different computers. Sharing information was difficult. In March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal called 'Information Management: A Proposal'. His supervisor noted on it: 'Vague but exciting'.
By the end of 1990, Berners-Lee had created the key pieces of the web: HTML, the language for writing pages; HTTP, the rules for sending them; URLs, the addresses for finding them; and the first web browser and server.
The first website, explaining the project, went online in 1991. On 30 April 1993, CERN released the web's software into the public domain, so anyone could use it without fees.
Graphical browsers soon made the web easy to use. Today, billions of people use it every day for news, learning, shopping and communication, including websites like this one.
- March 1989
- Proposal written
- 1990
- First browser and server
- 1991
- First website goes online
- 30 April 1993
- Web technology made free for everyone
Sources: CERN · World Wide Web Foundation · Britannica.