Important People & Events
Many people went in to making the World Wide Web possible. Some of the most important people to play a role in that are found below.
TIM BERNERS-LEE
Tim Berners-Lee is considered to be the creator of the World Wide Web. On Berners-Lee’s personal website, he credits his success with the World Wide Web to those before him who laid the groundwork. In his words, “most of the bits I [Berners-Lee] needed were already done. People mentioned by Berners-Lee as major influences in the creation of the WWW include Vint Cerf, Paul Mockapetris, Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, and Ted Nelson (Berners-Lee, n.d.,a).
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Notable Scientists & Researchers Who Made the WWW Possible
The Domain Name System was created by Paul Mockapetris and his colleagues while Vint Cerf and his colleagues created Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, all of which make sending emails possible.
Hypertext, which is at the heart of the WWW, wasn’t even thought up by Berners-Lee. Vannevar Bush thought of the idea of linking documents in 1945 and the name “hypertext” was given to the idea by Ted Nelson, although neither of them were even the first to think of the concept. Berners-Lee says that Doug Engelbart created a system like the WWW in the 1960s except that it existed on only one computer, unlike the WWW which jumps from computer the computer. Using all of these ideas and the internet itself, Berners-Lee created the WWW (Berners-Lee, n.d.,a).
Below are some photographs of these incredible people. Click on their pictures to learn more about them.
Hypertext, which is at the heart of the WWW, wasn’t even thought up by Berners-Lee. Vannevar Bush thought of the idea of linking documents in 1945 and the name “hypertext” was given to the idea by Ted Nelson, although neither of them were even the first to think of the concept. Berners-Lee says that Doug Engelbart created a system like the WWW in the 1960s except that it existed on only one computer, unlike the WWW which jumps from computer the computer. Using all of these ideas and the internet itself, Berners-Lee created the WWW (Berners-Lee, n.d.,a).
Below are some photographs of these incredible people. Click on their pictures to learn more about them.
What was a major contributor to the successful launch and growth of the WWW?
When asked what one of the most important milestones were in the WWW’s development, Berners-Lee answered that the commitment made by CERN, the lab he worked with, on April 30, 1993 to never charge royalties for using the Web was incredibly significant.
When Berners-Lee developed the WWW, a similar system, called Gopher, already existed and had more users than the WWW. It was operated by its creators, The University of Minnesota. They announced that in the future, they would charge a royalty for using Gopher. Berners-Lee reports that Gopher use dropped immediately and WWW use picked up (“Nothing is Perfect,” 2014).
When Berners-Lee developed the WWW, a similar system, called Gopher, already existed and had more users than the WWW. It was operated by its creators, The University of Minnesota. They announced that in the future, they would charge a royalty for using Gopher. Berners-Lee reports that Gopher use dropped immediately and WWW use picked up (“Nothing is Perfect,” 2014).