Friday, March 13, 2009

Happy 20th Birthday, World Wide Web

TIM BERNERS-LEE (2001)
© LE FEVRE COMMUNICATIONS

The Mind Behind The Web -- Scientific American

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and continues to shape its frantic evolution. He's neither rich nor famous, which is fine by him.

It is a cool morning in April 1999, and 1,500 computer scientists, university faculty, and industry CEOs are streaming into a vast fieldhouse at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, outside Boston. They grab coffee and seat themselves for a keynote speech that will cap the 35th anniversary celebration of M.I.T.'s Laboratory for Computer Science, the fount of so many creations that have driven the computer revolution.

From a makeshift stage, lab director Michael Dertouzos calls out, "We've had a great party! Now the man you've been waiting for: Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web." The crowd hushes and arches forward, for they know the name but not the man. Out from the shadows strides a sprightly 43-year-old Briton, smiling beneath a short crop of blond hair.

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More News On The Web's Birthday

Sir Tim Berners-Lee: The man who invented the world wide web -- The Telegraph
Facts about the Web's Creation -- Scientific American
Remembering the Day the World Wide Web Was Born -- Scientific American
Cern celebrates 20 years of the web -- ZDNet
World wide web turns 20 -- The Telegraph
Web is 20 today; anyone for cake? -- Computer World
20 years ago, the World Wide Web was born -- Mercury News
Web founder fears 'snooping' on the Internet -- AFP

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