Tim Berners-Lee

In 1978 Tim went to D.G Nash Ltd, also in Dorset, where he wrote software for intelligent printers and also a multitasking operating system.
He then spent eighteen months as an independent consultant. During this time, from June to December 1980, he carried out work as a consultant software engineer for CERN (well-known European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland). Whilst there, he wrote a programme for storing information including using random associations, for his own use. He called it "Enquire", but it was never published. However, this programme was the basis for the future development of the World Wide Web.

Between 1981 and 1984, Tim worked for Image Computer Systems Ltd, responsible for technical design. In 1984, he took up a fellowship at CERN, to work on distributed real-time systems for scientific data acquisition and system control. During this time he also worked on FASTBUS system software and designed a heterogeneous remote procedure call system.

In 1989, he submitted a proposal to CERN to develop an information system thus creating a web of information. CERN didn’t react, but he started working on it anyway. It was based on his previous "Enquire" work and designed to enable people to work collectively and combine their knowledge in a web of hypertext documents. In 1990, he wrote the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) - the computer language, which would be used to communicate hypertext documents on the Internet. He also designed a system to provide document addresses on the Internet. Tim Berners-Lee called the address a Universal Resource Identifier (URI). (This is now generally known as a URL -Uniform Resource Locator.)

By the end of 1990, he had also written a programme (browser) to retrieve and view hypertext documents. This he called "WorldWideWeb." He went on to write the first web server – the software, which stores web pages on a computer for others to access. Tim then set up the first server as info.cern.ch at CERN and tried to awaken interest in introducing the system in the company to link data between their various incompatible systems. But bureaucracy reigned and his efforts went unrecognised. So he turned his attention to the Internet community and in 1991 made his WorldWideWeb browser and server software available on the Internet. 

Web growth and misgivings 
As the number of Web users grew, it became more and more appealing as a medium. Sharing information became much simpler. It was far easier to post information on the Web once than reply repeatedly to multiple requests for the same data. Official bodies, required to publicize their information, also turned to the Web.

The Web became even more attractive as the amount of available information increased. The number of sites and users grew constantly and the number of visitors to the info.cern.ch server grew by a factor of ten each year. By summer 1993, the site was getting ten thousand hits a day. 

Tim Berners-Lee was delighted with the growth - but also had misgivings. He considered the Web to be a serious medium and was concerned that the visual-appeal being introduced would cause it to become frivolous. He was also concerned that the huge success would lead to such fierce competition that the open nature of the Web would be endangered. Tim recognised that a control of some sort was necessary to maintain a smooth running Web. However, a controlling body should not be able to alter the basic freedom and openness of the Web. 


World Wide Web Consortium 
On May 24, 1994, the first WWW conference was held at CERN. At the conference, Tim Berners-Lee spoke of his idea to create a consortium to assist the Web’s smooth development. He spoke of his aims; that no one should control the Web and that a consortium should help parties agree on how to work together while also withstanding any attempt by an institution or company to take control. 

In July of 1994, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agreed to host the consortium. MIT would be the American headquarters and CERN the European headquarters. Later CERN dropped out and France's National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control became the European headquarters. Tim Berners-Lee moved to MIT in Boston to head the consortium, now known as the World Wide Web Consortium or simply W3C.
Its purpose was “to lead the Web to its full potential, primarily by developing common protocols to enhance its interoperability and evolution." Membership would be open to any organization and any member would be free to participate in any meeting or working group put together by the consortium. 
The W3C develops open technical specifications that can be used free by anyone. These specifications are reached by a very democratic process. Any member can suggest a new project and if given sufficient support, the project proceeds. Once completed it is released by the consortium as a "recommendation." The W3C does not enforce its recommendations, but simply encourages everyone to adopt them. 

The modest man
In 1997, Timothy John Berners-Lee was awarded an OBE

In 2003, Tim was awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. The famously modest man said he was "quite an ordinary person", and although it felt strange, he was "honoured". 

In 2004, the Finnish Technology Award Foundation named him as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize. This is prestigious award, worth € 1 million. The honour is bestowed as “an international acknowledgement of outstanding technological innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development.”