Introduction

While working for CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), Tim Burners-Lee proposed bringing the ideas of hyper-text documents together with emerging Internet technologies like the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Domain Name System (DNS) to create the World-Wide Web. He defined the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the first web server, and the first web browser, in 1990 demonstrating the feasibility of the idea. Since that time, the web has grown to contain around 1.7 billion webpages¹.

The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect — to help people work together — and not as a technical toy. The ultimate goal of the Web is to support and improve our weblike existence in the world. We clump into families, associations, and companies. We develop trust across the miles and distrust around the corner.
-Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Burners-Lee went on to found the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to continue developing and maintaining web standards. He has been the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2004 for his contributions to society.