When did the World Wide Web (WWW) start to work for you?

British physicist Tim Berners-Lee invented the web at CERN in 1989. The project, which Berners-Lee named “World Wide Web“, was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for information sharing between physicists in universities and institutes around the world.

It is difficult to believe that we have had 20 years of a free, open web! On 30 April 1993 CERN published a statement that made World Wide Web technology available on a royalty free basis, allowing the web to flourish.

“There is no sector of society that has not been transformed by the invention, in a physics laboratory, of the web”, says Rolf Heuer, CERN Director-General. “From research to business and education, the web has been reshaping the way we communicate, work, innovate and live. The web is a powerful example of the way that basic research benefits humankind.”

The First Website

Scientists at CERN have now started a project to restore the first Website. This project aims to preserve some of the digital assets that are associated with the birth of the web. Read more about the project here.

Go take a look at the restored website, possibly the first website ever, that started it all. My, we have come a long way!