One of the most famous personalities in the IT field is Tim Berners-Lee. This name is known to many people from different parts of the world. He became the founder of the World Wide Web Consortium, invented the HTML markup language and became the author of many other technological developments. Apparently, it was thanks to him that we got “www.”, without which it’s difficult to imagine modern life. And scientist’s catchphrase, “You affect the world by what you browse”, became sensational headlines in newspapers and magazines around the world. However, few people know that the scientist was born in London. How did this city influence his life and what was his success story in IT? Learn more at london-future.
An inherited passion for science
Tim Berners-Lee was born on June 8, 1955. At that time, information technology was just at the beginning of its progress and started to gain global popularisation. Still, there were many unexplored phenomena in this area. Tim’s parents had a huge influence on the formation of their son’s future scientific career. They were also involved in mathematics and computer science. They played an important role in the development and creation of the first commercial computer Ferranti Mark 1. His brother Mike also connected his life with science and became a professor of ecology. Since his childhood, Tim Berners-Lee liked to observe many processes and tried to find out their reasons. In particular, he was fond of railway modelling. In 1969, the boy began studying at Emanuel School (one of the most prestigious educational institutions). Later, he enrolled at The Queen’s College. During his studies, Tim Berners-Lee created his first computer on the basis of an old TV, which he bought in a repair shop.
Success in professional activities and world recognition
Tim Berners-Lee was accused of hacking in his student years. Therefore, representatives of the educational institution often forbade him from using the college computers. The subsequent career of the specialist was extremely diverse. He didn’t stay in one city for too long and often changed his place of work, travelling the world. In 1980, he presented his project that facilitated the exchange and updating of information among researchers in Geneva. His presentation was related to the concept of hypertext. At that time, nobody knew that the developed INQUIRE system would become the basis for the creation of the World Wide Web. In general, Tim Berners-Lee worked in many companies after graduation. However, he returned to the CERN in 1989 because he got the opportunity to combine hypertext with the Internet. In the same year, he began working on the development of something bigger and more impressive, something that would become an integral part of the modern world. Soon, the first web browser was created, and in 1994, Tim Berners-Lee founded the W3C at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Such surprising inventions became the basis for general scientific interest. Scientists and companies from different parts of the world wanted to establish cooperation in the field to further its development.
In general, the scientist’s life was full of many more interesting breakthroughs. After positive results in the development of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee was appointed as an adviser to the Cabinet Office. Success in his professional activities also filled his life with a number of awards. His books are popular all over the world and the scientist himself still remains one of the brightest representatives of the IT sphere.