The internet is the place that brings us all together. The latest statistics show that about 60 percent of the worldwide population is using the internet, and that counts for about 5 billion individuals. We use the world wide web for different purposes, starting from relaxing and contacting our friends through social media, up to work, and even shopping.
There are endless things that you can do via the internet, and it is said that most of us spend at least 3 hours per day browsing different websites. Accessing different platforms on the web allows us to learn more things, advance in our careers, and even get the necessary skills to complete a project around our homes. However, have you ever thought about who was the person who invented this network that is used all over the world right now?
If you are interested in inventions, and if you want to know more about the history and beginning of things, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we are going to give you more information on who is generally credited with inventing the world wide web, and how the whole thing started.
Why was the WWW invented?
Before we delve into the details of this network and who is credited for inventing the internet, let’s first talk about the needs that resulted in this magical place that everyone can access.
In the late 80s, when technology was advancing drastically, people needed to easily communicate with each other. Telephones were an option, but it was difficult to reach someone who was on the other side of the country, or even the world, and the fees for it were too big for most people to be able to withstand.
The CERN laboratory was the place where this network was found, and the reason for it was easier communication between institutes and universities all around the world. Scientists need to closely collaborate when they want to achieve something that will benefit the whole world, and data was not easy to share.
Waiting for the traditional postal systems to get a file from one part of the world to the other took weeks, and sometimes even months, and that meant that different projects had to stay idle because scientists didn’t have enough data and information. So, the basic idea of this networking system was easier communication between different educational and scientific institutes and better file sharing.
The computer was already invented at that time, and scientists knew the potential that these devices had, so they only needed to find a way to share data securely and much faster than traditional ways. So, this is how the idea of the world wide web came across.
Who invented it?
Now let’s talk more about the invention of the WWW. One thing that not many people know about is the most of the things we use every single day were invented by regular people who only had an idea of something that was missing in the world.
According to InventHelp, you don’t have to have a scientific background to create a patent for anything, and the only thing you need to do is have an idea that could be fitted in today’s society. So, if you want to potentially become a person that future generations are going to learn about, you need to start as soon as possible and get a patent for your invention.
As we mentioned before, in the late 80s, the scientists in the CERN laboratory noticed the need for easier data and file transfer, and that is how the initial idea of the internet was born. The person who is credited with this invention is Tim Berners-Lee, and he started his patent and made his first proposal with the basics of the world wide web in the first half of 1989. About a year later, along with his colleague, Robert Cailliau, Berners-Lee finalized the proposal and the patent for what we know today as the internet.
By the end of 1990 and the beginning of 1991, more than 30 years ago, the first website was live, and it was running only for the scientists in CERN. One interesting fact about this invention is that it needed to be powered all the time, and if the device where the code was put was turned off, it would completely stop and the first website would’ve gone down. Because of this, there was a sign put on the device itself and it asked users not to turn the machine down after they were done using it.
Applications all over the world
The more scientists used the first internet, the more they noticed the benefits of it, and even though the initial idea of this invention was only to use it in laboratories and research centers, they realized that it will be beneficial for other industries to have access to it as well.
So, less than a year after the network was implemented only in CERN, scientists Paul Kunz and Louise Addis set up the first servers in the United States. This meant that the WWW was available on two continents already, and in late 93, NASA started implementing the software for their needs as well.
The media started using the internet about a year after NASA implemented it, and soon after, the first websites that resembled what we have now were built. As you can see, from the initial idea to a network that was available for the majority of the people, less than five years passed. This was one of the best ideas that humans had, and by the early 2000s millions of people were already online and they used the perks that came with the WWW.
Even though this was an idea that one person had, who also had the knowledge on how to create the code and start the software, it was also a team effort and many people worked together to achieve what we know today as the world wide web. Tim Berners-Lee is the person who made all that possible, and along with his colleagues, he set the basis for today’s technology and network that we can easily access from anywhere on the globe. The internet has drastically changed in the past three decades, and it is expected to get even more advanced as decades go by.